WWF/WWE/ECW/WCW

Zooey Addict Number of posts : 17074 Age : 44

Not too thrilled about The Godfather being inducted, but the most recent one I can certainly get behind. Big Boss Man is being inducted into the Hall of Fame. One of the best big men and one of the most popular mid-card faces in the early 90s and one of my favorite characters when I first got into wrestling.

Speaking of best big men, eventually they need to but Bam Bam and Vader in there as well.

King Of Kaiju Number of posts : 30892 Age : 63

DallasBlack wrote:: Not too thrilled about The Godfather being inducted, but the most recent one I can certainly get behind. Big Boss Man is being inducted into the Hall of Fame. One of the best big men and one of the most popular mid-card faces in the early 90s and one of my favorite characters when I first got into wrestling.

Speaking of best big men, eventually they need to but Bam Bam and Vader in there as well.

I miss ol' Bam Bam. I knew a guy who worked at a New Jersey (where Bigalow was from) Enterprise branch back in the day and Bam Bam came in to rent a car. People were scared of this big guy with the tattooed head but my friend said he was as nice as could be, even posed for pictures with him. And Bam Bam wasn't a big lummox in the ring like Big Show or Kane; he did moonsaults and enziguris for crying out loud

_________________
"The cat is the most ruthless, most terrifying of animals." - Spock in the "Catspaw" episode of ToS Season 2.

Metal is Forever Number of posts : 7613 Age : 55

You all will be happy to know that I am going to RAW next Monday night here in Pittsburgh. I haven't been to a WWE show since they were WWF back in 1986!

King Of Kaiju Number of posts : 30892 Age : 63

Wrestling shows are weird to go to live IMO. You're so use to hearing announcers that it seems strange to just be sitting there watching the matches and only hearing crowd noise and whatever's going on in the ring.

And those guys sure look a hell of a lot bigger in person than they do on TV. I remember seeing Shawn Michaels back in the mid 90s and he looked like a friggin' monster, not the smallish guy he looked like on TV. Then Razor Ramon walked down the aisle to face him. Holy Crap!

_________________
"The cat is the most ruthless, most terrifying of animals." - Spock in the "Catspaw" episode of ToS Season 2.

Metal is Forever Number of posts : 7613 Age : 55

tohostudios wrote:: Wrestling shows are weird to go to live IMO. You're so use to hearing announcers that it seems strange to just be sitting there watching the matches and only hearing crowd noise and whatever's going on in the ring.

And those guys sure look a hell of a lot bigger in person than they do on TV. I remember seeing Shawn Michaels back in the mid 90s and he looked like a friggin' monster, not the smallish guy he looked like on TV. Then Razor Ramon walked down the aisle to face him. Holy Crap!

I've been to many wrestling shows - WCW, ROH, Indies, etc... but I've managed to avoid WWE for 30 years.

I remember the first time I saw Kevin Nash at a WCW house show in 1997 and the guy was gigantic!

King Of Kaiju Number of posts : 30892 Age : 63

Yeah, TV doesn't do those guys' size justice.

A few posts back I talked about when The Undertaker and some others showed up at my Connecticut gym I was a MAJOR gym rat back then, 7 days a week which resulted in me needing surgery for shredding my elbow tendon. Anyway, those guys showed up at my Gold's gym and basically blew the roof off the place. Talk about feeling like a "puny man". Good grief those guys were monsters in the gym.

Anyway have fun at the show. Where are your seats, might we see you around ringside?

_________________
"The cat is the most ruthless, most terrifying of animals." - Spock in the "Catspaw" episode of ToS Season 2.

Heart of Metal Number of posts : 1226 Age : 56

tohostudios wrote:

DallasBlack wrote:: Not too thrilled about The Godfather being inducted, but the most recent one I can certainly get behind. Big Boss Man is being inducted into the Hall of Fame. One of the best big men and one of the most popular mid-card faces in the early 90s and one of my favorite characters when I first got into wrestling.

Speaking of best big men, eventually they need to but Bam Bam and Vader in there as well.

I miss ol' Bam Bam. I knew a guy who worked at a New Jersey (where Bigalow was from) Enterprise branch back in the day and Bam Bam came in to rent a car. People were scared of this big guy with the tattooed head but my friend said he was as nice as could be, even posed for pictures with him. And Bam Bam wasn't a big lummox in the ring like Big Show or Kane; he did moonsaults and enziguris for crying out loud

I didn't really know about Bigelow until years later, but in the late 1990s my friends were huge fans.
I was still catching up what was happening after ignoring wrestling since the Hart Foundation glory days!

One of my favorite matches is from an ECW dvd where he fights Taz and the ring collapsed. (I think that is where WWE got the idea for it years later, with Big Show and Brock Lesnar doing the same thing.

Metal is my Life Number of posts : 39646 Age : 55

Witchfinder wrote:: You all will be happy to know that I am going to RAW next Monday night here in Pittsburgh. I haven't been to a WWE show since they were WWF back in 1986!

Shoot , I haven't been to a WWF show since Bob Backlund was champ.

Metal is Forever Number of posts : 7613 Age : 55

007 wrote:

Witchfinder wrote:: You all will be happy to know that I am going to RAW next Monday night here in Pittsburgh. I haven't been to a WWE show since they were WWF back in 1986!

Shoot , I haven't been to a WWF show since Bob Backlund was champ.

Ha! You've got me beat!

Heart of Metal Number of posts : 2477 Age : 53

Witchfinder wrote:: You all will be happy to know that I am going to RAW next Monday night here in Pittsburgh. I haven't been to a WWE show since they were WWF back in 1986!

Hold up a heart of metal sign for us!

The last show I went to was the one here in Panama City Beach, the very last Nitro when Shane walked out. Having not watched the WWF in many years I had no idea who he was (in fact, at this time I wasn't watching much wrestling because we didn't have cable and I went to Nitro because it was free. I kept up with wrestling by reading Pro Wrestling Illustrated from time to time).

Zooey Addict Number of posts : 17074 Age : 44

The last WWE event I went to was in 1997. I remember it being at Will Rogers Colosseum, but I found the match line-up and it's saying Reunion Arena:

WWF @ Dallas, TX - Reunion Arena - July 11, 1997 (6,452)

Bob Holly pinned Leif Cassidy

Henry & Phinneas Godwinn defeated the Headbangers

Rockabilly defeated Flash Funk

Brian Pillman defeated Jesse Jammes

Crush & Chainz defeated Blackjack Windham & Blackjack Bradshaw

Ken Shamrock defeated WWF European Champion Davey Boy Smith via disqualification when Brian
Pillman interfered

Goldust pinned Hunter Hearst Helmsley

Steve Austin & Mankind defeated Bret Hart & WWF IC Champion Owen Hart

WWF World Champion the Undertaker defeated Vader in a casket match

I remember it being at a different location but it was definitely that card because I remember some things very clearly:

I yelled, "Chyna is a man!" and could have sworn she looked directly at me though I was pretty far away Very Happy

I also remember Goldust telling Hunter, "Get her out of the ring, she's too much man for me to handle!"

I remember Undertaker chokeslamming and tombstoning Vader with ease.

I found an even for Will Rogers but the line-up was all wrong (didn't mention Vader or Goldust) to be it so I think the site I got it from mixed the two up:

http://wweppvresultz.weebly.com/

Neat bit of history on that site.

King Of Kaiju Number of posts : 30892 Age : 63

Well, another sad list. I count 4 of those wrestlers as deceased.

Brian Pillman
Davey Boy Smith
Crush (Brian Adams)
Owen Hart

_________________
"The cat is the most ruthless, most terrifying of animals." - Spock in the "Catspaw" episode of ToS Season 2.

Metal is my Life Number of posts : 39646 Age : 55

DallasBlack wrote:: http://wweppvresultz.weebly.com/

Neat bit of history on that site.

That's an excellent site ! I was able to dig up the card/results from my show on there:

WWF @ Pittsburgh, PA - Civic Arena - February 11, 1983
Pete Sanchez pinned Charlie Fulton
SD Jones pinned Johnny Rodz
Salvatore Bellomo pinned Baron Mikel Scicluna
Tony Garea pinned Swede Hanson
WWF Tag Team Champion Chief Jay Strongbow defeated Mr. Fuji via disqualification when Fuji threw salt into his opponent's eyes
The Wild Samoans defeated Eddie Gilbert & Curt Hennig
Big John Studd defeated WWF Tag Team Champion Jules Strongbow via submission with a backbreaker
Ray Stevens defeated Pedro Morales via count-out
Rocky Johnson defeated Superstar Billy Graham via disqualification
Jimmy Snuka pinned Buddy Rose
WWF World Champion Bob Backlund pinned WWF IC Champion Don Muraco in a Texas Death Match

I remember they had to take Buddy Rose out on a stretcher after his match with Snuka.

I was able to get my picture taken with Rocky Johnson. I have no idea on whatever happened to it, though. It's probably stored away at my mom's house somewhere.

Metal is Forever Number of posts : 7613 Age : 55

This was the card for the show I went to in 1986:

WWF @ Cincinnati, OH - Riverfront Coliseum - August 24, 1986
Hercules defeated Cousin Luke
Ted Arcidi defeated Rene Goulet
Bob Orton Jr. fought Pedro Morales to a draw
WWF Women's Champion the Fabulous Moolah defeated Jean Kirkland
WWF IC Champion Randy Savage defeated George Steele via disqualification
WWF Tag Team Champions Davey Boy Smith & the Dynamite Kid defeated Terry & Dory Funk Jr.
WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan defeated Paul Orndorff via disqualification

Zooey Addict Number of posts : 17074 Age : 44

Watching the 1998 Royal Rumble:

*I forgot about the "mini" division. I wonder if the little people activists were up in arms about that?

*Sunny was the guest referee in the mini match. She was such a babe back then, certainly IMO the most beautiful woman the WWF/E had. There have been plenty of lookers since the mid 90s but Sunny was always the best. Shame she had to crash and burn like she did.

*They showed Tyson with Vince and Shane. Who knew at that time that Shane would have done the stuff he's done, let alone be facing the Undertaker at Wrestlemania 18 years later.

*The Rock just starting his character (was so at Survivor Series 1997). Who knew he'd be considered one of the greatest wrestlers of all time. Austin was already getting there but Rock had just begun his journey to the top.

*Shamrock (Rock's opponent) had the look and the ability but was a tad short on the charisma factor.

King Of Kaiju Number of posts : 30892 Age : 63

Apparently "The Game" is back on the juice again. He looks freakin' huge tonight on RAW.

_________________
"The cat is the most ruthless, most terrifying of animals." - Spock in the "Catspaw" episode of ToS Season 2.

Heart of Metal Number of posts : 2477 Age : 53

What an awesome site! I went to this one at Joe Louis and we were ringside. I remember looking at the Sheik and said "USA!" and he looked at me and said "USA sucks!" and spit. hahaha.

WWF @ Detroit, MI - Joe Louis Arena - December 25, 1986 (8,500)
Barry O defeated Jerry Valiant
Lanny Poffo defeated Jack Kruger
Pedro Morales defeated Frenchy Martin
The Honkytonk Man defeated Scott McGhee
Dino Bravo defeated SD Jones
Billy Jack Haynes pinned the Iron Sheik
The Junkyard Dog defeated King Kong Bundy via disqualification
Don Muraco & Bob Orton Jr. defeated Mike Rotundo & Danny Spivey
WWF IC Champion Randy Savage defeated George Steele via count-out
Roddy Piper pinned Adrian Adonis

King Of Kaiju Number of posts : 30892 Age : 63

That site had the first event I ever went to. I was 12.

WWWF @ Allentown, PA - November 13, 1972
Tony Garea defeated Chuck O'Conner
Buddy Wolfe fought El Olympico to a draw
WWWF Tag Team Champions Prof. Toru Tanaka & Mr. Fuji defeated Chief Jay Strongbow & Sonny King
WWWF World Champion Pedro Morales defeated the Spoiler

I'll never forget my brother trying to get El Olympico's autograph after the match and Buddy Wolfe lunged at Olympico and took a swing seemingly missing my brother by inches. I did get Sonny King's autograph.

EDIT: Now that I look at it again, you know what's really amazing? I saw a house show with a grand total of 4 matches. Goes to show you how much longer matches were back then because that show went at least an hour and a half (as I remember it). And I used to like The Spoiler. I don't have any idea who it was under the mask but he was this big (at least 6'5") guy with a mask and a gloved hand who would walk the top rope a la Undertaker and clamp the claw on his opponent's face until the guy started bleeding and passed out. I remember Morales bleeding and I was pissed when he won.

EDIT2: OK, so now I've gone all "wrestling geek". I got curious about who The Spoiler was. I found this on Wikipedia:

Quote :: Don Jardine (24 March 1940 – 16 December 2006) was a Canadian professional wrestler best known for his masked gimmick as "The Spoiler". While a major star in various wrestling promotions, Jardine saw his greatest successes in the National Wrestling Alliance affiliated territories of Championship Wrestling from Florida, Georgia Championship Wrestling and Big Time Wrestling, which would eventually become known as World Class Championship Wrestling, from the early 1960s through the mid 1980s.

He became one of the top masked wrestlers in the Southern United States, particularly in Texas, where The Spoiler was created by Fritz Von Erich in 1967.^[1] He famously walked the top rope, a move he would teach to Mark Calaway (the future The Undertaker) in the mid-1980s while competing in the World Class Championship Wrestling.^[2]

The Spoiler's matches against Chief Jay Strongbow and Sonny King were long-lasting feuds that enjoyed successful runs across the WWF circuit. His "Iron Claw" was the first maneuver to be censored from the TV screen by the WWF promotion in a 'reverse psych' move to sell tickets.

I remember that bit from the last paragraph. WWWF used to put a big, white "X" across the screen but you could still see just enough of the in-ring action to know that The Spoiler's opponent was "wearing the crimson mask". The 12 year old me thought that was so cool. It actually might be a good gimmick to adopt again on Raw with their stupid PG rating.

_________________
"The cat is the most ruthless, most terrifying of animals." - Spock in the "Catspaw" episode of ToS Season 2.

Zooey Addict Number of posts : 17074 Age : 44

tohostudios wrote:: Apparently "The Game" is back on the juice again. He looks freakin' huge tonight on RAW.

Like Vince (his arms are still large and surprisingly firm looking especially for a man of his age), I doubt he has to pass the drug tests.

Also, I couldn't believe how loud the boos Roman got were. Guess absence doesn't make the heart grow fonder.

Heart of Metal Number of posts : 2477 Age : 53

Witchfinder wrote:: You all will be happy to know that I am going to RAW next Monday night here in Pittsburgh. I haven't been to a WWE show since they were WWF back in 1986!

How was the show? I FF thru most of it but I did watch the Neville/Jericho match to see if I could determine what happened. Apparently he broke his foot. What did you see?

Also, how was the crowd to Roman? I couldn't really tell on TV, a mix of boos and cheers but you might be able to tell better in house.

Heart of Metal Number of posts : 2477 Age : 53

tohostudios wrote:

That site had the first event I ever went to. I was 12.

WWWF @ Allentown, PA - November 13, 1972
Tony Garea defeated Chuck O'Conner
Buddy Wolfe fought El Olympico to a draw
WWWF Tag Team Champions Prof. Toru Tanaka & Mr. Fuji defeated Chief Jay Strongbow & Sonny King
WWWF World Champion Pedro Morales defeated the Spoiler

I'll never forget my brother trying to get El Olympico's autograph after the match and Buddy Wolfe lunged at Olympico and took a swing seemingly missing my brother by inches. I did get Sonny King's autograph.

EDIT: Now that I look at it again, you know what's really amazing? I saw a house show with a grand total of 4 matches. Goes to show you how much longer matches were back then because that show went at least an hour and a half (as I remember it). And I used to like The Spoiler. I don't have any idea who it was under the mask but he was this big (at least 6'5") guy with a mask and a gloved hand who would walk the top rope a la Undertaker and clamp the claw on his opponent's face until the guy started bleeding and passed out. I remember Morales bleeding and I was pissed when he won.

EDIT2: OK, so now I've gone all "wrestling geek". I got curious about who The Spoiler was. I found this on Wikipedia:

Quote :: Don Jardine (24 March 1940 – 16 December 2006) was a Canadian professional wrestler best known for his masked gimmick as "The Spoiler". While a major star in various wrestling promotions, Jardine saw his greatest successes in the National Wrestling Alliance affiliated territories of Championship Wrestling from Florida, Georgia Championship Wrestling and Big Time Wrestling, which would eventually become known as World Class Championship Wrestling, from the early 1960s through the mid 1980s.

He became one of the top masked wrestlers in the Southern United States, particularly in Texas, where The Spoiler was created by Fritz Von Erich in 1967.^[1] He famously walked the top rope, a move he would teach to Mark Calaway (the future The Undertaker) in the mid-1980s while competing in the World Class Championship Wrestling.^[2]

The Spoiler's matches against Chief Jay Strongbow and Sonny King were long-lasting feuds that enjoyed successful runs across the WWF circuit. His "Iron Claw" was the first maneuver to be censored from the TV screen by the WWF promotion in a 'reverse psych' move to sell tickets.

I remember that bit from the last paragraph. WWWF used to put a big, white "X" across the screen but you could still see just enough of the in-ring action to know that The Spoiler's opponent was "wearing the crimson mask". The 12 year old me thought that was so cool. It actually might be a good gimmick to adopt again on Raw with their stupid PG rating.

The first thing I noticed when I read your post was the amount of matches. Wow, that must have been awesome. I think today's crowd would say "boring" after about 10 minutes. I would love some long matches. Jim Ross is right -- WWE needs to bring back time limits and have those 15 and 20 minute draws.

Have never heard of the Spoiler so I went and searched, is this the guy?

In this match notice how high the ring ropes are and how loose they are. I kind of like it.

Zooey Addict Number of posts : 17074 Age : 44

mikeinfla wrote:

Witchfinder wrote:: You all will be happy to know that I am going to RAW next Monday night here in Pittsburgh. I haven't been to a WWE show since they were WWF back in 1986!

How was the show? I FF thru most of it but I did watch the Neville/Jericho match to see if I could determine what happened. Apparently he broke his foot. What did you see?

Also, how was the crowd to Roman? I couldn't really tell on TV, a mix of boos and cheers but you might be able to tell better in house.

Yeah, were the boos for Roman as loud as they appeared to be? When I watched it on Hulu, they were pretty prominent.

King Of Kaiju Number of posts : 30892 Age : 63

mikeinfla wrote:

tohostudios wrote:

That site had the first event I ever went to. I was 12.

WWWF @ Allentown, PA - November 13, 1972
Tony Garea defeated Chuck O'Conner
Buddy Wolfe fought El Olympico to a draw
WWWF Tag Team Champions Prof. Toru Tanaka & Mr. Fuji defeated Chief Jay Strongbow & Sonny King
WWWF World Champion Pedro Morales defeated the Spoiler

I'll never forget my brother trying to get El Olympico's autograph after the match and Buddy Wolfe lunged at Olympico and took a swing seemingly missing my brother by inches. I did get Sonny King's autograph.

EDIT: Now that I look at it again, you know what's really amazing? I saw a house show with a grand total of 4 matches. Goes to show you how much longer matches were back then because that show went at least an hour and a half (as I remember it). And I used to like The Spoiler. I don't have any idea who it was under the mask but he was this big (at least 6'5") guy with a mask and a gloved hand who would walk the top rope a la Undertaker and clamp the claw on his opponent's face until the guy started bleeding and passed out. I remember Morales bleeding and I was pissed when he won.

EDIT2: OK, so now I've gone all "wrestling geek". I got curious about who The Spoiler was. I found this on Wikipedia:

Quote :: Don Jardine (24 March 1940 – 16 December 2006) was a Canadian professional wrestler best known for his masked gimmick as "The Spoiler". While a major star in various wrestling promotions, Jardine saw his greatest successes in the National Wrestling Alliance affiliated territories of Championship Wrestling from Florida, Georgia Championship Wrestling and Big Time Wrestling, which would eventually become known as World Class Championship Wrestling, from the early 1960s through the mid 1980s.

He became one of the top masked wrestlers in the Southern United States, particularly in Texas, where The Spoiler was created by Fritz Von Erich in 1967.^[1] He famously walked the top rope, a move he would teach to Mark Calaway (the future The Undertaker) in the mid-1980s while competing in the World Class Championship Wrestling.^[2]

The Spoiler's matches against Chief Jay Strongbow and Sonny King were long-lasting feuds that enjoyed successful runs across the WWF circuit. His "Iron Claw" was the first maneuver to be censored from the TV screen by the WWF promotion in a 'reverse psych' move to sell tickets.

I remember that bit from the last paragraph. WWWF used to put a big, white "X" across the screen but you could still see just enough of the in-ring action to know that The Spoiler's opponent was "wearing the crimson mask". The 12 year old me thought that was so cool. It actually might be a good gimmick to adopt again on Raw with their stupid PG rating.

The first thing I noticed when I read your post was the amount of matches. Wow, that must have been awesome. I think today's crowd would say "boring" after about 10 minutes. I would love some long matches. Jim Ross is right -- WWE needs to bring back time limits and have those 15 and 20 minute draws.

Have never heard of the Spoiler so I went and searched, is this the guy?

In this match notice how high the ring ropes are and how loose they are. I kind of like it.

I think so. I don't really remember him with WCW though. And his mask in WWF was red most of the time.

_________________
"The cat is the most ruthless, most terrifying of animals." - Spock in the "Catspaw" episode of ToS Season 2.

Heart of Metal Number of posts : 2477 Age : 53

Read some more on the Neville/Jericho match. Interesting:

Chris Jericho’s argument with referee Charles Robinson after Neville was injured during their match last night on Raw was legit. The Wrestling Observer reports that when Jericho took control of the match after the injury happened, he told Robinson they were ending the match early, which the roll-up was supposed to do. Robinson did as the referees have been instructed to do and called the match like a shoot, stopping the count because he saw one of Neville’s shoulders up.

When Jericho got up, yelled at Robinson and shoved him, that was a shoot reaction and their argument after the bell was also legit. It was said to be “very awkward” in the ring afterward but that things had cooled down by the time they got backstage. Jericho also improvised his promo on AJ Styles after the match.

Metal is Forever Number of posts : 7613 Age : 55

Raw was okay on Monday. We got there at about 7 and the place was packed. True to their reputation, the Pittsburgh crowd was pretty dead throughout the night.

The crowd loved Dean Ambrose, New Day, Brock, HHH, Shane, Chris Jericho, Ric Flair, Undertaker, Mick Foley and AJ Styles.

Roman Reigns was booed unmercifully. The crowd even booed him when his Underarmor commercial was playing on the Titantron!

The Neville injury was apparent at the show. The match had that odd ending and then the Jericho promo afterward made it clear that Neville was really hurt. They were helping him outside the ring for awhile and then two trainers carried him to the back.

Everyone in the crowd around us was buzzing about a possible Kurt Angle return, but that didn't happen obviously.

Overall, the show was fairly uneventful. It seemed like nothing monumental happened and no story lines were really advanced. For instance, we still don't know why the Undertaker agreed to fight Shane even though they hyped Taker's appearance like crazy.

I had a good time, but 4+ hours is a long time to sit in an arena. The bad thing about a TV taping is all the dead time for commercials. House shows move at a much better pace.