Al Posted August 13, 2006 Report Share Posted August 13, 2006 I got disc two of the Road Warriors dvd off Netflix yesterday. One of the matches featured on the disc is the LOD/Midnight Express scaffold match from Starrcade '86. This is of course the match where Jim Cornette blew out both of his knees falling from the scaffold. What struck me most was that Condrey and Eaton both bladed during the match. I can just imagine THAT booking meeting. "Hey guys. We were just thinking. We want you to take 20 foot falls into a ring of course. We were wondering if you could possibly slice yourselves open beforehand, just for fun." "Ok. What do the Road Warriors do?" "Stand there and look good." Anyway, I don't recall seeing a scaffold match recently, outside of that deplorable New Jack/Vic Grimes match in XPW. WWE has never held one I believe. There's a few obvious reasons. 1. After Owen Hart, everyone is queasy about a match that would see a wrestler take a long plunge into a ring. 2. Scaffold matches are possibly the most dangerous gimmick match. 3. Scaffold matches are boring anyway. 4. The attraction, seeing a big bump, is negated by the extreme bumps wrestlers take on a regular basis. So is the scaffold match dead? I would prefer to think so. On another note, has there ever been a particularly good scaffold match? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted August 13, 2006 Report Share Posted August 13, 2006 Scaffold matches are dead, yeah. The best ones to see are probably the Midnight Express/Rock & Roll Express ones from Mid South. They're the only ones that I've seen that I've really liked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest teke184 Posted August 13, 2006 Report Share Posted August 13, 2006 The scaffold match in MAINSTREAM wrestling was on life support when Jim Crockett sold out to Ted Turner in the late 80s. The last one I remember on a WCW show was at Bash 91, which was so horrible that I don't think they ever did another one. ECW and XPW have had them since then, but they were mostly revolved around New Jack and Vic Grimes, which were just car-wrecks waiting to happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Posted August 13, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 13, 2006 The scaffold match in MAINSTREAM wrestling was on life support when Jim Crockett sold out to Ted Turner in the late 80s. The last one I remember on a WCW show was at Bash 91, which was so horrible that I don't think they ever did another one. ECW and XPW have had them since then, but they were mostly revolved around New Jack and Vic Grimes, which were just car-wrecks waiting to happen. Did New Jack ever have a scaffold match in ECW? He did those balcony dives, but as far as I know the only scaffold matches the promotions did were Dark Patriot vs. J.T. Smith (1993), and Tommy Dreamer vs. Brian Lee. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest treble Posted August 13, 2006 Report Share Posted August 13, 2006 Didn't WCW have one towards the end there? I'm thinking fall of 2000, during the Shane Douglas/Billy Kidman feud. Torrie Wilson and Asya might have been involved in it, too. I never saw it, but I think I remember the build-up to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted August 13, 2006 Report Share Posted August 13, 2006 I rarely speak of him in a positive way, but Scott Keith put it best when he said that scaffold matches suck because it's not fun to watch two guys or teams try their best to not look scared out of their minds. I don't know how the Road Warriors/Midnights match got to be so highly regarded, considering the usual limits of the gimmick were further hindered by Hawk breaking his leg in Japan right before. The most nerve wracking part for me was thinking the whole goddamn structure would collapse before the match ended. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHawk Posted August 13, 2006 Report Share Posted August 13, 2006 The scaffold match in MAINSTREAM wrestling was on life support when Jim Crockett sold out to Ted Turner in the late 80s. The last one I remember on a WCW show was at Bash 91, which was so horrible that I don't think they ever did another one. Oh God, you mean the one where nobody wanted to take the big bump so they did a "capture the flag" finish instead? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest teke184 Posted August 13, 2006 Report Share Posted August 13, 2006 The scaffold match in MAINSTREAM wrestling was on life support when Jim Crockett sold out to Ted Turner in the late 80s. The last one I remember on a WCW show was at Bash 91, which was so horrible that I don't think they ever did another one. Oh God, you mean the one where nobody wanted to take the big bump so they did a "capture the flag" finish instead? Yeah. that one with Austin and PN News, amongst others, at Bash 91. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted August 13, 2006 Report Share Posted August 13, 2006 The idea of a match ending with a 20 foot bump to the ring is so ridiculously stupid, its's a miracle no one was killed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest DylanWaco Posted August 14, 2006 Report Share Posted August 14, 2006 I like virtually any Midnights scaffold match because at some point Bobby Eaton will do something REALLY stupid, but visually stunning and scary as shit, just to try and make the unworkable match not suck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Some Guy Posted August 21, 2006 Report Share Posted August 21, 2006 Didn't WCW have one towards the end there? I'm thinking fall of 2000, during the Shane Douglas/Billy Kidman feud. Torrie Wilson and Asya might have been involved in it, too. I never saw it, but I think I remember the build-up to it. They did, but I can't remember who was involved. It was during the second Russo run in WCW and I believe was under the "Capture The Flag" rules or something similar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mike Campbell Posted August 21, 2006 Report Share Posted August 21, 2006 Has anyone ever seen the scaffold match from WCCW that Foley talked about in his first book? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boondocks Kernoodle Posted August 22, 2006 Report Share Posted August 22, 2006 Didn't WCW have one towards the end there? I'm thinking fall of 2000, during the Shane Douglas/Billy Kidman feud. Torrie Wilson and Asya might have been involved in it, too. I never saw it, but I think I remember the build-up to it.They did, but I can't remember who was involved. It was during the second Russo run in WCW and I believe was under the "Capture The Flag" rules or something similar. It was Douglas and Torrie against Kidman and Madusa, and it was under the normal rules. (Russo would never pass up the opportunity to have his wrestlers do big, career-threatening bumps). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bix Posted August 22, 2006 Report Share Posted August 22, 2006 Wasn't the Russo one over a ridiculously gimmicked stage or something? I really need to find a tape of the Ware-Dundee 2/3 falls scaffold match, as someone (TomK?) pimped it as being really good due to their abilities at working a punch-based match. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest The Metal Maniac Posted August 23, 2006 Report Share Posted August 23, 2006 A 2/3 falls scaffold match? Um...how? Wouldn't they have to sell the fall like death, or defeat the whole purpose of the match? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bix Posted August 23, 2006 Report Share Posted August 23, 2006 The 1st scaffold match (Jarrett vs Greene) was 2/3 falls but it was on a lower, narrower (they were straddling it) scaffold. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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