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Re: The Wrestling thread
Had HBK not been injured, I wonder his things would have gone. In all honesty, Jericho probably succeeded because he wasn’t there… and he only really took off because HHH was seriously hurt. The dude beat Austin and the Rock in the SAME night. No way HHH allows that.
There was a rumor back in the day that HBK was going to run Corporation X. That would have been cool.
Had Eric Bishoff been smart, he would have gone after Paul Heyman and bought ECW instead of recruiting Russo.
Re: The Wrestling thread
Last night I was watching some old wrestling instead of movies and I stumbled upon an angle I had never watched before. It reminds me I need to do a deep dive into 1982-84 Mid South-Mid Atlantic wrestling. That period is peak NWA right before Crockett starts dominating and poaching talent in 1985 and Saturday NWA/WCW becomes THE wrestling show.
^ That is amazing. What makes it amazing is how much potential is already there.
Magnum is as green as oyster shit...so are the Midnights. You can tell. He isn't very comfortable yet and comes off a bit awkward. The only veteran in this angle is Mr. Wrestling II.
Magnums ascent is crazy. Less than a year later he beats Wahoo for the US title and then starts his feuds with Flair and Tully... leading to the iconic I Quit match. Months after that he's teaming with Dusty as America's team and as Frank and Jessie James feuding with the Midnights, and a few months later has the classic feud with Nikita....
Then it's over.
This guy wasn't even close to reaching his peak. Seeing him in one of his main feuds before going to Crockett really hammered this point home.
Cornette is on fire there. He's so young...
Nothing was stopping him.
Seeing this renewed my interest in the Frank and Jessie James vs Midnight Express feud...which was dropped way too early.
Starting it on national TV like that was brilliant.
This right here shows how crazy this feud could get and it's right before they pulled the plug...
They interfere in the match like they're heels, carry Cornette to the parking lot, and are about to drag him with a chain on their truck.
Re: The Wrestling thread
Years ago I would search YouTube for Windham vs Bam Bam Bigelow at Starrcade 88....they never had it. In fact, they didn't have any of it back then.
It's on Dailymotion...
Killer match...goes back and forth, crowd into it, Ross and Caudle are selling it. Unfortunately it ends in a countout.
I noticed something immediately....
There is NOTHING to indicate this is Starrcade. Nothing in the ring, no logos or merch anywhere, even the announcers don't mention Starrcade.
It gives it the feel of a main event on the Saturday program or a house show.
It's so low rent. Compare this to the spectacle of WrestleMania V a few months after this event.
I hated when Bigelow lifted him up at the 2 count. Only heels do that. It makes no sense for him to do it. He's there to win the US title after only being in NWA for what...a month or two?
They really dropped the ball on Bigelow. Him coming in was huge...so keep him. I don't remember what caused his departure... probably a contract dispute or drug issue.
Bigelow was one of the top wrestlers of 1988. He was really popular in WWF the first half of the year... probably deserved an IC title run...then goes to WCW where he deserves a run as well.
Crazy how Windham is also gone in only a couple months.
This is also the Starrcade where it's Luger's last real shot at Flairs title. They drug this feud out too long with Luger never winning and neither man realizes that Sting is about to dominate the top of the card.
Re: The Wrestling thread
I watched a Hogan vs Flair dark match from when he bolted to WWF in the early 90s. That was a dream match, and I can’t get over how awful it was. They had zero chemistry with each other. It was just awful. I have so much more respect for Randy Savage who could give Hogan a good match.
I watched a match between Ted DiBiase and Warrior around the same time and it was fantastic. One of the best matches I ever saw Warrior have.
Re: The Wrestling thread
That's funny...cuz those 91 house shows with Hogan-Flair were the best matches they ever had. It got much worse from there.
I agree...it was only a dream match on paper. Their styles simply don't mesh. For starters, Flair was known for putting on 45-60 minute clinics on a nightly basis while the Hogan formula was 10-15 minutes.
The "Hulk up" thing isn't a good visual against someone like Flair.
What needed to happen...if either one was willing to take it seriously since it was THE dream match...was to rehearse the match over and over like Savage-Steamboat did until they can come up with something presentable.
The other dream match that decade but faded quickly due to his short reign was Flair or Hogan vs Martel.
Flair and Martel wrestled to a 60 minute draw on one of those NWA-AWA cards in 85.
Speaking of Savage...as amazing as he was in WWF, I always wondered what it would've been like had he went to NWA instead. There were a ton of wrestlers for Savage to have great matches/feuds with....
Flair
Tully
Arn
Magnum
Windham
Dusty
Nikita
Even lower level matches with the likes of Buddy Landell, Black Bart, Barbarian, Jimmy Valiant, would've been good.
Adding him into the tag team mix would've been off the hook as well.
The only problem is Dusty would've had to insert himself into what Savage is doing.
Re: The Wrestling thread
He had a pretty good feud with Dusty in WWF, but dream was pretty well past his prime.
I forgot what great matches Savage had with DDP in WCW. Dallas swears that’s what really got him over. It’s a shame Macho never got that match with HBK. It’s one of the reasons he left for WCW.
Re: The Wrestling thread
Vince McMahon totally mishandled the end of the Macho Man's tenure in the WWF. I often wonder whether or not Hart vs Savage as the WM IX main event would have been better. Savage was one of the final two guys in the Royal Rumble that year.
I did like the last Savage match (or one of the last ones) in the WWF, think it was a last man standing match vs Crush at Wrestlemania 10.
Re: The Wrestling thread
On one of the old school wrestling sites, someone posted this gif to show how strong Backlund was at the time....
It reminded me how Ivan Koloff wrestled in WWF in the 70s. That has always slipped my mind over the years. It's probably because I didn't start watching wrestling until the early 80s and he was NWA at that point...and never left again for the rest of the decade.
In the mid 80s I would've loved for the Russians(Koloffs and Kruschev) to head over to WWF. They would've been amazing... imagine the level of heat they would've gotten from those crowds....the foreign heels in WWF at the time were Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff...both verging on cartoon characters and no sense of danger.
Have them bail out of NWA after losing the belts to the Rock N Roll express. Ivan and Kruschev can immediately go after the tag champs(Valentine-Beefcake, British Bulldogs, or the Hart Foundation).
While this is happening, Nikita goes after either Hogan or the IC title (either Tito or Savage). Obviously Hogan the big enchilada but it would all depend on timing.
It's why I was so happy when I saw Demolition and they immediately became my favorite team....Kruschev finally made it there.
Sad how Darsow wanted Nikita to come with him. Nikita should've listened.
Another team that should've went is The Midnight Express....and it's bat shit crazy how close it came to happening.
Not going caused the world to forever lose out on a few dream matches....
Midnight Express
vs
British Bulldogs
Hart Foundation
Demolition
Could've squeezed out some good matches with the Killer Bees, Rougheus, and Midnight Rockers.
