UKFF Questions Thread V2

[dopper]

He was an announcer between 89/90 and early 91 I believe and was announcing on some prominant PPV's including Royal Rumble 1990 and possibly the summerslam as well but im not 100%.

 

I watched SummerSlam 1989 this week and can confirm he and Jessie The Body commentated on that event.

 

I don't remember hearing him commentating on any other WWF ppvs though.

Edited June 24, 2011 by dopper

[Rob Lowe]

He and Jessie definitely did Rumble 90 too.

[air_raid]

I know part of why he went back to WCW was him not liking JR and competing for the lead announcers spot and of course JR would have been considering going to WWE about the time Schiavone left.

 

Not really. He couldn't have "gone back to WcW because he didnt like JR" because the two were never in the WWF at the same time. Nor was the time he went back anywhere close to the time Jimbob left WcW.

 

He went back to WcW in 1990 when JR was still prominent there and the two coexisted for about three years until JR left WcW because he felt slighted that Eric Bischoff was promoted to Executive Producer over himself, even though he had much more experience working in wrestling television.

Edited June 24, 2011 by air_raid

[IANdrewDiceClay]

When Schiavone was an employee of Turner Boardcasting, and there's a story where they all went in after the sale of WCW to WWF and the staff were read out who was going to be released with immediate effect, and Tone's name was the first read out. What I've read over the years, is that he was so in with WCW's head brass and was such a pal of the people in charge at Turner, that he'd made a lot of enemy's within WCW. He was above it all, according to the likes of Bobby Heenan and Mike Tenay, and was pally with the people who mattered and was a dick to people who didnt matter to much. Even Bischoff was going to replace him (probably with Joey Styles) in 2001 when the sale went through. He wore many hats in WCW, and had a load of influence. He was the bloke who made the call for Arquette to get the belt and he was also in WCW's production meetings all the time. I'm sure it was probably a mix of WWF not wanted the likes of him on board, not needing another lead commentator at the time (especially when Jim Ross was in charge of the hiring process) and because Schiavone had other options outside wrestling. He seems to be doing well for himself. He said in his recent blog that he had "always wanted to leave wrestling" but stayed because of the money.

 

I miss Schiavone. He was the voice an era for me. Its one of the things Raw has lost, when JR got took off it. When you switch Family Fortune's on, you expect to hear Les Dennis' voice welcoming you. Same with wrestling. The commentators a massive part of it, and Schiavone was WCW's voice for as long as I can remember. Even when Bischoff took over from him for about a year, it didnt seem right. I think he was underrated. He seemed like an annoying twat at the time, who constantly hard sold the product, but looking at some of the shite we've had since then, he's seems as subtle as Martin Tyler.

 

And this is who he's fucking:

Jealous?

Edited June 24, 2011 by Ian_hitmanhart

[Astro Hollywood]

When Schiavone was an employee of Turner Boardcasting, and there's a story where they all went in after the sale of WCW to WWF and the staff were read out who was going to be released with immediate effect, and Tone's name was the first read out.

 

The best part of that story, is that they read it out as "Tony Skee-a-vone"

[Sergio Bellend]

They are teaming together but keeping there solo gimmicks essentially (well cody has one). In almost a reverse from Legacy days Cody seems to be the leader

 

 

Flicking through Smackdown recently, and Cody Rhodes and Ted diBiase were back teaming together in a 6-man tag with Wade. Are they back as a full time tag team or was it just one of those random 6-man tags they do and the pair of them happened to be on the same team?

They're mates again, and Cody's taken Ted under his wing to turn his career around. Or so the commentators keep saying, and they refer to backstage bits between them as though we've seen them, but those haven't been on any Smackdown episodes I've been downloading.

 

Thanks for that.

[SteelEdge]

I always thought Jim Ross debuted for WWF at Wrestlemania 9 in 1993, but I'm watching Disc 3 of the Macho Man dvd and there's a tag match (Flair and HBK vs Savage and Bret) from July 1992 with JR and Heenan on commentary.

 

So, whats the story? Can't find anything on Wikipedia about it.

[IANdrewDiceClay]

It was probably released on VHS around the time and Jim Ross (as the new commentator) had to announce over pre-recorded material for commercial release, because when it was recorded it wont have had any commentary over it.

Edited June 25, 2011 by Ian_hitmanhart

[Magnum]

I'm working on an academic paper at the minute that looks at wrestler's autobiographies. I was wondering if someone could clue me in as to whether there's a recognised point in mainstream US wrestling when promoters and wrestlers decided to stop kayfabing the public and start discussing the worked nature of the business in more detail? It seems like very few wrestlers have attempted to write an entirely kayfabed book since 'Have a Nice Day', but were there others that spilled the beans in a similar fashion before Vince started to acknowledge the 'entertainment' aspect in interviews?

[IANdrewDiceClay]

Early 90s during the steroid trail is when I've first seen wrestlers open up about the business. I know Hogan got a lot of grief for telling everyone wrestling was a big con, on an episode of What's Up Doc in 1993. He did a media tour around the UK, appearing on a one hour show dedicated to him being interviewed by Jonathan Ross on BBC, and he also did a few late night shows. All of which he was telling people it wasn't real (ironic really, that the wrestling media was giving him stick for telling the truth). Looking at some of the interviews from the early 90s steroid trial, Vince never said it was real. In a real interview setting, he would always say "we are entertainment, not sport". There are other ways of kayfabing though, as the Attitude era showed. In the late 90s it seemed to which from "this is all fake, but this isnt" even if it was. And today wrestlers work each other and the fans on twitter a lot to get themselves over. There will always be kayfabe in wrestling, even if it isnt in the traditional sense.

 

This might be good for you to watch. Its a Morton Downey Jr. show about whether wrestling is fake. David Schultz, Captain Lou and Paul Heyman all laugh at even the suggestion that its fake, and this poor bloke is ridiculed and has water chucked in his face, because he said it wasnt real. The attitude compared to today is incredible. Gives you a sense of what the business was like before it was 100% exposed:

Edited June 25, 2011 by Ian_hitmanhart

[King Pitcos]

There weren't many wrestling autobiographies at all before Have a Nice Day, were there? I remember seeing loads of Foley interviews where he said publishers always assumed wrestling fans couldn't read.

 

As far as wrestling admitting to being fake, as well as the stuff Ian said, wasn't there a speech on Raw that Vince did early in the attitude era (possibly kicking off the attitude era/campaign) that pretty much admitted it was fake? The one about "we don't wanna insult anyone's intelligence" or some such. Edit: This one

Edited June 25, 2011 by King Pitcos

[Magnum]

Yeah, that Vince speech was the one that immediately came to mind when thinking about this. Regarding the autobiographies, I remember reading a book by the old British wrestler Jackie Pallo sometime in the early 90s which was pretty explicit about the worked nature of wrestling, but wasn't sure if there were American equivalents from a similar era knocking about.

[Zebra Kid Mark]

When did the term 'Attitude era' start being used? Was it during the era or was it after? Who came up with the term, was it the WWF/E or did it get called the attitude era by fans/writers? Hope this question makes sense.

[Icon]

What actually is a dusty finish

[Statto]

What actually is a dusty finish

 

Basically, Wrestler A announced as winner of the match, decision reversed on a technicality and match given to Wrestler B, either immediately after, or on the next show.

 

Often used in title matches, usually as a result of a ref bump and a) Wrestler A doing something illegal while he's out which is later alerted to the ref, or b) a second referee counting the fall for Wrestler A following something illegal, they then both work it out.