OOOLD SCHOOOOL

[Devon Malcolm]

So, I was watching The Best Of The King Of The Ring the other night and was watching the HBK v Austin match from 1997.

 

What EXACTLY was the story with that disabled guy who Michaels helped to the back near the start of the match? They never seemed to elaborate on commentary. I'm sure this has been asked loads of times before, but I've not seen this match since, well, 1997.

[NEWM]

He was feuding with Austin on the house shows and this was a nod to those that read the dirtsheets.

 

Nah, not really. Basically, sometimes, simples get overexcited and fall over. That's about it I think.

[IANdrewDiceClay]

He was feuding with Austin on the house shows and this was a nod to those that read the dirtsheets.

There was a bidding war for him between WCW and WWF. He was originally going to be doing the Mortis gimmick, before WWF gave him creative control. For some reason, he pulled a power play at KOTR which involved him getting dragged to his feet and waving his arms at Steve Austin. It was the kind of politics that killed the Attitude era, eventually.

[dopper]

I watched Savage vs Hogan from WrestleMania V a few nights ago, and a number of things stick out as being noteworthy:

 

- Elizabeth looked absolutely terrified walking down the stupidly narrow aisle both years they were at Trump Plaza. At WM4 they were arms reaching over both sides that she had to battle through then the following year they surrounded each Superstar with security blokes for the walk to the ring, but Elizabeth also had Pat Patterson shielding her completely.

 

- It was so strange to see virtually the entire front 2 rows on the side facing the hard camera consisting of bored middle aged men in suits along with their even more bored wives. I guess they were all part of Donald Trump's entourage who were not there by choice.

 

- That match may have been my all-time favourite Jesse Ventura performance on commentary. The weird parts of Hogan's routine back then were all expertly brought up, and questioned or ridiculed by The Body. Like raking the eyes or that thing where he drops face down and wraps both arms around the opponents leg. Monsoon was able to stay with Jesse the whole way through though, and could give fairly reasonable reasons why Hogan was doing what he was doing.

 

- That spot where Hogan scooped up Macho at one side of the ring before charging across the ring and body slamming him over the top rope to the floor is still one of my favourite highspots ever. To describe it, it sounds simple and unspectacular. But the run-up and the bump itself made it a huge HOLY SHIT moment at the time and still does for me.

[Baz Windham]

So, I was watching The Best Of The King Of The Ring the other night and was watching the HBK v Austin match from 1997.

 

What EXACTLY was the story with that disabled guy who Michaels helped to the back near the start of the match? They never seemed to elaborate on commentary. I'm sure this has been asked loads of times before, but I've not seen this match since, well, 1997.

 

I think it was pointed out on here a while back that Vince's first instinct is to call him a "Special Olympian" Cracks me up that, unless he actually was.

[air_raid]

- That spot where Hogan scooped up Macho at one side of the ring before charging across the ring and body slamming him over the top rope to the floor is still one of my favourite highspots ever. To describe it, it sounds simple and unspectacular. But the run-up and the bump itself made it a huge HOLY SHIT moment at the time and still does for me.

 

I agree with you 100%. It's all about context. That amazes me because of how "holy shit" it was for its time. Like Shawn Michaels uncorking a moonsault press at Royal Rumble 91, or Bret Hart going through the table at Survivors '95, when you see something that's over and above the status quo, it sticks in the mind and seems special.

[Evo2012]

it feels like everyone is all in it together, everyone is constantly interacting with eachother in one way or another, and that just because someones match has ended they can still turn up later at any time in the show to do something.

 

This is so important. There was a period when TNA got really good at this - people would come down to the ring for their match or interview whilst the last guys were still heading up the ramp, and they did those backstage interview in the locker room or before/after the show and you'd see wrestlers getting ready for their match or cooling down afterwards.

 

I know it's not a real sport. But I want it to kind of feel like one. I want wins and losses to mean something, and I want the guys to be competitors not entertainers.

 

Wholeheartedly agree with this. Imagine a storyline like The Undertaker trying to take over Raw with his Ministry these days. If a wrestler is staging a coup, he would absolutely get involved in numerous matches and segments over the night. He would cause havoc with anybody, not interact with one or two top wrestlers alone.

[The Cum Doctor]

WWE RAW 19/04/1993

 

So we have Virgil vs. Razor Ramon and The Beverly Brothers vs. Money Inc on this show. At least one of them matches has to be good.

 

Razor Ramon vs. Virgil

 

Vince says Savage is the master of tactics. Not sure that was ever something he was accused of. Razor actually does a great job of using the ropes for pretty much everything he could possibly need them for, backing up the claim form Savage that HE is actually the master of tactics. This is quite a spirited effort actually and Virgil comes across looking really good, but ultimately, Ramon gets the win with the Razor's Edge in a fun match.

 

Giant Gonzalez vs. L.A. Gore

 

This is not going to end well for L.A. Gore. He seems to know this and stays on the floor but he gets dragged into the ring. Chokeslam for Gonzalez wins and this was too short to be anything really.

 

We have a promo from Luna Vachon. We see her laying a beating on Sherri as she says that she is evil and will cause mayhem and all sorts of stuff.

 

Tatanka vs. Art Thomas

 

This is about as average as a Tatanka squash can get. Jobber takes control from the offset and then takes a beating. Tatanka's chops were brutal though which helped things along. Tatanka takes a win with the Samoan Drop.

 

Money Inc. vs. Beverly Brothers

 

I'm not sure if the Beverlys are a babyface team in this one, and their actions don't really help matters. As far as I can tell, this is just two heel teams battling for the right to be the biggest cunts on the planet. I'm still not sold on the Beverly Brothers. They had good matches with the Steiner Brothers but any other time I see them, they appear to be as dull as dishwater. This match isn't much different I'm afraid, and the crowd not caring even a jot doesn't help matters. The match comes to an end when there's a mishap and Dibiase gets a School Boy for the pin. Pretty poor match to be honest.

 

Bret Hart has something to say when we come back from commercials. Bret Hart says he's gonna shoot straight back to the top, and he's making a hit list. The first name on the list is Lex Luger. We see footage of Luger attacking Hart on the day of Wrestlemania. Bret Hart thinks there's something suspicious about the forearm smash of Lex Luger and wants an investigation from Jack Tunney. He is then gonna go after the title. To the point stuff from Bret Hart.

 

Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Bill Apollo

 

Ah shite. I've just about had my fill of shite Bigelow matches for now. Unfortunately this is just about as dull as the rest of Bigelow's RAW matches around this time. Doink the Clown comes to ringside during this one which kind of adds a bit of shine to it. Bigelow wins with the Falling Headbutt off the top. Horrible.

 

Friar Ferguson then heads for the ring. Aye, this is exactly what we need to make things better. Ferguson wants a piece of Bigelow. Dropkick sends Bigelow to the floor and the fans like that. Bigelow doesn't though and he's raging. Fun angle I suppose.

 

That was a horrendous episode outside of the opener.

[The Cum Doctor]

WWE RAW 26/04/1993

 

Tonight we've got Crush taking on Lex Luger. Reasonably big match there. Shawn Michaels is also due on the show.

 

Damien Demento vs. Mr. Perfect

 

According to Vinny Mac, downtown Manhattan is a "nice place to lose it". Demento continues to be dull as dishwater when it comes to the actual wrestling part. Perfect being all fire doesn't really help that much untill he finally gets a grip on the match. Perfect gets the win in a pretty standard match with the Perfect Plex.

 

We now have an anti-drugs thing with some kid reading a poem, with The Undertaker ending it with "There's no hope with dope." Both educational and fucking creepy.

 

"The Narcissist" Lex Luger vs. Crush

 

Quite looking forward to this battle between two big bastards. Sure enough, we see Crush show off his power which Luger really struggles to deal with. It takes an oppertunist move to get Luger into the match as Crush gets a bit over excited. When that happens, Luger uses everything at ringside that he can possibly use to keep the advantage. So yeah, the plot of the match is really simple and makes the match really enjoyable to watch. I'm glad I've gone back Luger from both WWE and WCW, because I don't think I fully appreciated him before. I've always liked Crush for some reason. Doink distracts Crush and then another Doink is there. This allows Luger go get back into the match with the Running Forearm which sends Crush to the floor and we get a count out. Very solid stuff here.

 

Next week we get Doink/Perfect in the King of the Ring, and Luger faces Backlund on Wrestling Challenge. Ah good. I think I remember Perfect/Doink being good before.

 

Mr. Hughes vs. Jason Knight

 

It's weird to see Jason Knight actually wrestle. I can only remember seeing him with the neck brace. The big man squashes on RAW around this time don't really do much for me outside of Yokozuna, and this isn't much different and it doesn't help when we cut to Heenan watching something else. A slam of sorts put this match to an end for Hughes, and then he launches Knight out. Boring.

 

Vince McMahon is now in the ring and Shawn Michaels comes to the ring. McMahon tells us HBK is defending the belt against Jim Duggan. HBK is sick and tired of going to NYC because it's the armpit of the nation. His words. Not mines. The fans tell HBK that he's gay. HBK says that it doesn't matter what shape you are, everybody gets a chance, and Duggan gets his next week. He says that the fans' chanting means nothing to him as he doesn't have time in his life for losers. We see coverage of the attack from Wrestlemania on Perfect. Mr Perfect is now heading for the ring and the security are trying to keep him back. HBK with a kick to the face and then he does a runner and gets chased to the back. :lol: That was super stuff from HBK there.

 

We now see footage of Bigelow going to Sherri on the platform on Superstars and Tatanka gets involved and sends Bigelow crashing off of the platform. Tatanka then dives off of the platform and the brawl continues. We then see footage from later that night when Tatanka gets introduced but isn't appearing. Bigelow attacked Tatanka backstage and gives him a total mugging. He then cuts the hair of Tatanka. Good angle there and I remember it pretty well!

 

Typhoon vs. Von Krus

 

There's a couple of problems here. Firstly, Typhoon's offense is incredibly weak looking. The other is that not only does Krus' look better, but he gets a LOT of offense in the match. So Typhoon really doesn't look good at all here for the most part. Typhoon eventually wins with the Big Splash.

 

Bobby Heenan is now at ringside and we're going to have a proposal and Heenan wants to see the guy get down on one knee and she says yes. The guy says they will NOT get married on RAW and that sends us to commercials. We come back to the same situation and the people want to see them get married on RAW. Don't think they're buying that Heenan.

 

Actually a good fun episode this time out.

[The Cum Doctor]

Right, that prompt in the ROH thread made me realise that this is something that needs updated.

 

WWE RAW 03/05/1993

 

They waste no time getting into things on this show...

 

Shawn Michaels © vs. "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan - WWE Intercontinental Championship

 

The stalling at the start of the match is like something you would see on your local shows with Duggan bringing the constant crowd play, and HBK just standing and running outside constantly. Even when it looks like the match is going to change gears, it starts again. This continues untill the commercial break and when we come back, we actually have a wrestling match taking place between the two men. I love the weird way that Duggan takes moves. You don't know what the fuck he's going to do. This isn't enough to amuse me though as the match is pretty poor stuff on the whole. HBK heads for the crowd and that's the match which I suppose pays off all of the running away.

 

Duggan says that he isn't leaving untill he gets another shot at HBK. We come back from commercials and Duggan is still going nuts with his 2x4. He finally buggers off, which allows us to have this pretty tasty looking match...

 

Doink the Clown vs. The Kamikaze Kid

 

Okay, so I don't think we're going to see much from this match, but on paper later on, this match would look pretty nifty. Doink just blindsides him from the off though. Doink seems a bit miffed in this one actually, unleashing holy hell on the kid before locking in a VICIOUS Stump Puller and that's the end of that chapter.

 

Bob Backlund vs. Dwayne Gill

Giiiiiiiiiiiiillbeeeeeeeeeerg. Backlund's squash matches are always a good bit of fun. The jobber tends to get some good offense. In this match, Backlund finds a lovely way to avoid that. He then does a weird pin and gets the three count.

 

"Hacksaw" Jim Duggan heads for the ring again this time to speak to Vince McMahon. Duggan says that he spoke to Jack Tunney, and he's getting a Lumberjack Match for the IC Title.

 

Jobbers vs. The Headshrinkers

 

Lou Albano is commentating at ringside and he doesn't appear to be a big fan of Bobby Heenan. One of the jobbers in this one sells every single move like he's been shot in the body part in question, with overdramatic rolling and squirming around. It's off putting and amusing at the same time I guess. The other jobber walks into the ring and just walks right into a kick in the throat. This guy takes a particularly nasty beating. This probably goes on a bit long as the Shrinkers wind up walking around doing nothing to stall a bit. Fatu gets the pin with the Top Rope Splash in an amusing if overly long squash. They attack the first jobber again for shits and giggles.

 

We're backstage with The Bushwackers who appear to be trying to fix a hole in the roof, but only cause a leak. Those wacky wackers.

 

Kamala vs. Rich Michaels

 

Good stuff with Michaels bumping like his namesake would for Hulk Hogan, and Kamala seems up for throwing himself about to deliver the beating as well. Kamala then does the whole pinning the wrong way round thing before finally getting the pin with the Body Splash. Fun stuff with Michaels throwing himself about for the cause.

 

Backstage and we've got Bobby Heenan interviewing Shawn Michaels, and he's unhappy with the way he's being treated. HBK seems to be miffed that Duggan has Tunney's number and he doesn't. The jist of this is that HBK has something up his sleeve and that ends the show.

 

Erm... total nothing stuff there outside of the IC Title stuff.

[IANdrewDiceClay]

To celebrate the release of (as the WWE trailer puts it) "a film that defined a generation", I've decided there would be no better time than to review the cinematic masterpiece that is No Holds Barred.

The film kicks off how, every good film started in the late 1980s. With the RCA Columia pictures logo spiralling on screen.

 

We then get stuck straight into the action, as announcers Jesse The Body Ventura and Mean Gene Okerlund hype the main event. Howard Finkle makes an appearance and announces the challenger for the World Wrestling Federation crown will be Jake Bullet

 

No not him. But Bill Eadie, working the Jake Bullet gimmick. Who was at the time a WWF tag team champion in the form of Demolition Ax

 

Hogan is next out. He’s called “Rip” in this and the only thing different from his character on WWF TV at the time is that his colours are white and blue and he is lead to the ring by a black bloke and his brother Randy. Randy will become a paraplegic later on in the movie. Oh, and instead of cupping his ear, he has a little hand gesture with his index and pinky finger.

 

They have a match, which is the standard Hogan fair. Hogan uses a double axe handle as a finish, as opposed to the Leg Drop. Hopefully if this movie gets a second life on DVD and becomes a hit, he could start using that as his finisher in TNA. The match is monitored by evil executive Brell. Brell’s a bad man. He invents new swear words such as “Jockass” and fires lowly executives when they even question the idea that Hogan might not be worth giving creative control to.

He’s played by Kurt Fuller, who had quite a good weekend at the box office as far as films go. He appeared in both No Holds Barred and Ghostbusters II, more or less playing the same character. On the back of this he was fresh off appearances in The Running Man and Elvira, Mistress of the Dark as well. His most memorable role might have been his portrayal of Russell in Wayne’s World.

 

He’s sick as a chip about being last in the television ratings AGAIN, and the only solution is to throw money at the biggest name in television, Rip. Now if this was real life, Vince McMahon would probably have still seen the outline of a Hulk Hogan shaped image as Hogan ran to the door ready to sign up. But Rip is a different soul. This is not about money. “My bond is my word, brother”. Its about doing what is right for the everyman. He even calls Brell “Mr. Brell” until he over steps his mark by trying to kidnap him.

 

Brell plays it cool up to a point, but he’s a desperate man. Advertisers are probably on his arse, merchandise isn’t selling very well. I assume Brell’s network probably has good workers, but without a big star, who are they going to work with? Zeus against Ric Flair will only draw once. So as a final offer, he puts his cheque book on the table and tells Hogan to fill in the zeros. But not before calling Hogan a “jockass”. Rip reacts in a hostile manner and tells Brell “I WONT BE AROUND WHEN THIS CHEQUE CLEARS”.

 

Brell calls in the heavies. Rip’s limo driver locks the big man in the back of the car and takes him to an abandoned warehouse. And Hogan bursts out of the top of the limo as a very 1980s action movie soundtrack plays over the top of it.

 

There is a good eight people going for Rip, and he just slaughters them. You have to hope Brell isn’t booking these fuckers for his weekend house shows, because in the 80s if you lost a fight the promoter usually canned you. The final baddy Rip gets his hands on is the limo driver. His life is sparred for no other reason than he shit himself. it’s the most famous scene in the film, which probably says more about it than this review can.

 

The next scene is Rip being introduced to his financial advisor, “Sam”, played by Joan Severance. Who got her tits out on See No Evil, Hear No Evil. She’s the Hulkster’s love interest in the movie. Which was a sudden shift of pace you aren’t ready for after witnessing a man shit himself.

 

This is where it gets a bit dodgy. In real life, Hulk Hogan is marketed towards children. His core audience was young children to late teens. Sure, he had a large adult following, but they weren’t the ones watching Hulk Hogan’s Rock n Wrestling or buying his Hasbros. Which makes it unsettling when you here Hogan grunting and checking her arse out. Finally she can’t take the hassle anymore. She had to ask Rip out on a date. Rip turns up wearing the same suit he wore on Des O’Connor. Rip gets really arsey with a French waiter, like that scene in Bottom where Eddie tells him not to dribble in the gravy. Unfortunately we didn’t get to hear Hogan’s Leonard Rossiter impression. But the real story is what Brell and his executives are up to.

 

Brell and the lads turn up to a redneck bar, where everyone talks in strong southern accent, chews tobacco and fights. ‘The Lariat’ Stan Hansen is the man who runs the bar and he’s probably the best thing in the film. He’s hilarious. I’m surprised he didn’t do more films. Terry Funk did.

 

The highlight of ‘The Lariat’s’ appearance is when Hansen catches Brell’s two executives slagging him off in the bogs. He thinks about giving them a kicking, but declines when he see’s the size of their “tiny wangers”. He then walks off laughing like a mid-80s heel.

 

Upon seeing the market for tough men fighting in an octagon, Brell announces the inventively named “Battle Of The Tough Guys” tournament. Some of the names are excellent. Brock Chiseller, Bulldog McPherson and Klondyke Kramer are the first signed up. Stan Hansen also entered the tournament. Brell initially isn’t to impressed with what he sees. There are some tough guys, as the name states, but nobody is really up to the level of the WWF Champion Rip. That is until the warehouse door is smashed off the wall and in enters …

ZEUS…ZEUS…ZEUSSSSSSSSS!!!!

 

The Human Wrecking Machine proceeds to beat up every man and woman in the bar. Hansen dies and has his hair ripped from his scalp. All this is happening as Zeus’ WWF entrance music plays in the background. As this is going on, Hogan’s black manager informs Rip that “I used to manage this guy, he killed a guy in the ring. I couldn’t control him”. it’s a action movie clich

[pmy008]

Looking in this tread reminded me of an arcade game I used to see at my local swimming pool:

Only managed to play it once and when I got to the final, as Ultimate Warrior, it refused to let me press Andre! I kept on trying, and failing, and it led to my loss. Still, at the time it was awesome!

[wwffan2]

I watched yesterday Summerslam 1989 its so weird seeing Tony Schiavone in WWF he did a really good job.

I think tonight Il watch a classic WCW PPV not sure which one yet.

[Mr. Levity 84]

Been watching a lot of "Old School" WWF and WCW lately, and I absolutely love it! As a fan who saw his first ever match in 1994 (Shawn vs. Razor, Ladder Match, Wrestlemania X), the Hogan era completely passed me by, and I hadn't watched anything from the pre-1994 WWF era until just recently. Also, the amazing world of WCW has been opened up to me thanks to some amazing DVD deals from Silvervision, and I've been watching that stuff too. Here's some thoughts from an Old School Newbie:

 

Hogan is so much fun to watch!

I've read a lot of articles over the years aimed at the Hulkster, most of them negative. The first Hogan match I ever saw was his epic clash with The Rock at Wrestlemania 18. I was amazed by the match and was even more amazed by the reaction he got. I've recently watched the "Hulk Hogan Ultimate Anthology" and "Hulk Hogan's Unreleased Collectors Series" DVD sets and they were very good indeed. Hogan's formula was simple and his matches rarely deviated from the same maneuvers, but he put on one hell of a show! Obviously, match quality increases significantly when he's matched up with the Macho Man, Ric Flair or Shawn Michaels. Just watching these old school matches with their simple formula and incredible crowd reactions for virtually everything Hogan does is a real treat. I've enjoyed these DVD's significantly more than any WWE product I've watched recently.

 

Ric Flair

Recently, I've had the pleasure of watching Ric Flair's Ultimate Collection and Definitive Collection, as well as the Four Horseman Documentary. Once again, I'm amazed at just how good the matches are. As a fan who's only seen post 2001 matches involving Ric Flair, it was a pleasure to see him in his prime. His matches against Ricky Steamboat are just off the charts incredible, particularly the Chi-Town Rumble one, which is by far my favourite. Flair's battles against Harley Race, Dusty Rhodes, Barry Windham, Kerry Von Erich and others had me at the edge of my seat. Everything seemed perfectly paced and perfectly executed in virtually every one of his matches, with Flair's opponent looking amazing after the match was over ... with the exception of Flair vs. Steiner (from the History of the World Title DVD), which I did not enjoy...

 

So, instead of spending money on the latest PPV's, I'll be purchasing the 'Best of WCW Clash of the Champions' Blu-Ray, and just about anything else Old School that I can get my hands on. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy modern day WWE to a certain extent, but with a limited amount of cash, I think I'll spend it on things I know I'll enjoy more...

[Jas]

Great write up above on No Holds Barred - so many memories..I remember as an 11 year old Hulkamaniac at the time it was odd seeing my hero Hogan pashing away with the female lead the dirty bastard.

 

Thanks for the huge effort Ian, hope to read more reviews like this.