Jump to content

The Big Boss Man Appreciation thread


IANdrewDiceClay

Recommended Posts

  • Paid Members

BIG BOSS MAN APPRECIATION THREAD:

BigBossman005.jpg

Just been watching the Survivor Series 1988, and it inspired me to make this thread. Here's a man who I was almost shed a tear for when he died. I was always a massive fan of the Big Boss Man. Boss Man was a fucking beast. He had to have been around 400 pounds and he moved better than anyone in the match. People dont give him the credit that they give Bam Bam and Vader, but at his biggest, he moved as good as anyone. He always gave the most entertaining squash matches, especially as a heel, because he'd tie them to the rope and batter them with his night stick. Many a night was spent with the Heel Hasbro Boss Man smacking Kerry Von Erich and any babyface figure. I'd tie the rope around the figures hand and pretend it was handcuffs and the man from Cobe County Georgia beat them down with his plastic truncheon, only for the Warrior, Savage or Hogan to make the save.

wwf_bigbossman.jpg

He famously turned face and we were finally allowed to sleep easy at night as children knowing the streets were safe now that the Big Man was on our side. He came an instant hero to millions (including a young Ian_hitmanhart) when we could finally control his fate, when one Christmas in the early 90s, we got WrestleMania Challenge with our NES:

WWFWrestlemaniaNES-h450.pngdisplay_image.jpg

For what seemed like months I'd play on that game, teaming Hogan, Beefcake and the Boss Man up to throw Andre out of the ring, who was to fat to climb back in to escape getting counted out. The Boss Man love seemed to be noticable, because one day my Mam said "your brother got a present for you". I opened the Job Lot carrier bag to see ...

51w45yDtQhL.jpg

BABYFACE BOSS MAN! No longer did I have to pretend that heel Boss Man had a heart, and now Boss Man could be in the corner of Hulk Hogan to battle Earthquake and Ray from the Ghostbusters (Hasbro never made a Dino Bravo figure). Everyone I knew seemed to love the Boss Man. When all my mates would play WrestleFest at the Arcade, we'd all shit ourselves and dash for our 50p's when his head would pop up in the corner righthand part of the screen so we could enter the game and win the Royal Rumble.

wrestlefest7.jpg

He was a tremendous worker as well, as his matches with Hulk Hogan (still the best match of Hogan's career, for me), Mr. Perfect, Ted DiBiase and The Mountie showed. His match with The Mountie is still on of the most effected uses of a gimmick match ever. The crowd are totally into the match and the payoff was as good and as funny as anything I've seem in the midcard gimmick portion of the card. Mountie's sell job is class. And his feud with Nailz was compelling stuff as a 7 year old. Boss Man looked like he got fucked up when they showed pictures of him with black eyes and bruised ribs. He left the WWF in 1993, in a match with Bam Bam Bigelow, which was the first instance of knowing someone was getting jobbed on the way out, even if you never knew he was leaving.

4349885690_099bc58c2b.jpg

Even as a kid it looked like Boss Man had pissed someone off due to the way he got hammered off Bigelow. Although not to memorable, he had his moments in WCW, with matches against Rick Rude, a decent match against John Tenta during the feud where Traylor was shaving heads and when he formed a stable with the Steiners and they were more over than most of the roster. I remember him squaring up to Hollywood Hogan and the fans were going mental for it.

traylor.jpg

As a teen, the Boss Man returned to my life for one more run. His return was momentous, I shit you not. My whole family popped, including my Mam who affectionally said "whats he deeing back?" He had a decent return as well, being the second best ever Hardcore Champion (behind the Road Dogg), his feud with Al Snow was great as well, and who could forget his driving away with the Big Shows dead Dad. His poem after Big Shows Dad died was hilarious as well. Upon his return, I saw him live at the Telewest Arena in Newcastle in 1999, where a packed house saw him lose to Steve Austin, in what I call the Geordieland Screwjob. He was on everything from t-shirts, to being a high profile member of the companies top stable to being in modern WWF/WWE games such as the first two SmackDowns and WWF Attitude. And even though I was out of the toy buying stage at that point, I did own this:

a20792a12f36e975f25315_m.JPG

 

Boss Man was a great man, who never gets spoke of today. He came from an era long dead. An era where you thought, once he left the ring that night, the next morning wasnt spent phoning for a rental car and making the next town on a house show loop and scoring whatever drug it takes to get him to sleep and then wake him up, but that he was up at 7 in the morning to do paperwork before going off on the beat with his law enforcement team. He deserves more discussion time on here. What are you memories of him?

 

Oh and he had this theme:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 53
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Great thread. When I first got into wrestling as a 9-year-old in late 1999/early 2000, I only had channels 1 to 5 so the only WWF I could watch was Heat. Bossman was usually on it every week, having matches with such luminaries as Prince Albert, Val Venis, D'Lo Brown etc. I vaguely remember his "tough love" angle with Prince Albert where they were tag team partners but also sort of enemies at the same time, that was mint. His (Attitude Era) titantron and music perfectly fitted him too, and it's one of the themes I remember most fondly from my childhood. When you heard the "DUN DUN DUN DUN, DUN" and saw him on the screen putting on the shades and posing with the knightstick, you knew there was going to be hell to pay!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRm097b6zII

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Paid Members

The SNME cage match against Hogan is - as you say - the best of Hogans career.

A fairly big claim when you consider Hogan has worked against almost everyone who could be classed as the greatest of all time.

 

Also when he beat the Rock on Raw to become the No1 contender to the World Title I was jumping around the room. That the Big Show squashed him sort of soured it though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

His rumble 91(?) match with the Barbarian was absolutely awesome. Especially considering it followed the Rockers - Orient Express match it still had me hooked from start to finish. A brilliant match from two hugely underrated workers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Boss Man was awesome. True white meat babyface that was also a hardass and didn't take any shit. His initial heel run was great as he was a believable big nasty rough-housing bastard, then his main babyface run was just a pleasure to watch. Best punches in the business too.

 

His wcw run in 1994 was great, evenwith shoddy gimmicks. In particular, Spring Stampede 94 Vader vs The Boss - Spring Stampede 94 where I remember seeing him knock the shit out of Vader, which just didn't happen back then.

 

Bubba was the man.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Boss Man was awesome. True white meat babyface that was also a hardass and didn't take any shit. His initial heel run was great as he was a believable big nasty rough-housing bastard, then his main babyface run was just a pleasure to watch. Best punches in the business too.

 

His wcw run in 1994 was great, evenwith shoddy gimmicks. In particular, Spring Stampede 94 Vader vs The Boss - Spring Stampede 94 where I remember seeing him knock the shit out of Vader, which just didn't happen back then.

 

Bubba was the man.

 

He had more names in 94 than Bastion Booger. He started strong in WCW but went downhill fast

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"With the deepest regrets and tears that are soaked

I'm sorry to hear your dad finally croaked

He lived a full life on his own terms

Soon he'll be buried and eaten by worms

But if I could have a son as stupid as you

I'd have wished for cancer so I would die too

So be brave, and be strong, get your life back on track

'Cause the old bastard's dead and he ain't never comin' back!"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Paid Members

Bossman was awesome. He bounced around like a motherfucker when needs be, his matches with chickenshit heels were always fun and he played his part very well. Particularly of note, his feud with the Heenan Family was a favourite of small child me.

 

Rewatching the Nailz stuff (on Coliseum Video's 1992 WWF Year In Review video casette, currently available nowhere) even now, it was genuinely shocking and if you liked Bossman - as I did - rather upsetting.

 

In WcW he was a hoot too. I don't know if he was playing it for laughs some of the time, but some of the rubbish out his mouth in his trademark hick drawl was brilliant. Once in particular I remember him mugging to the camera going "WE are taking over the dubya-c-dubya, not the nWo, not the IV Horsemen.... it's the Dungeon of Doom, baby!" Sure Bubba, your lot are taking over. No trouble.

 

His WWF return had its moments too. His poem to Big Show was class.

 

"He lived a full life, on his own terms.

Soon he'll be dead, and eaten by worms."

Etc.

 

He made me believe in law, order and justice.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I still love going back to watch my old tapes if there a Big Bossman match on there. I always thought he had the best punches in the WWF in his time and his moves were very unique to him. I love watching him slid under the bottom rope and using that nice big right.

 

As someone said earlier, his music to me was the best WWF produced at the time, and I do mean better than 'Real American' and Ultimate Warriors theme. I sometimes heard myself humming it in the middle of nowhere. 'Well, have you ever been to Cobb County Georgia, and you read the sign that said respect the law and order or it's hard time, well, its hard time...' :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Paid Members
His rumble 91(?) match with the Barbarian was absolutely awesome. Especially considering it followed the Rockers - Orient Express match it still had me hooked from start to finish. A brilliant match from two hugely underrated workers.

 

And here is said match:-

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzQ9_SLt0yk

 

An absolute cracker. The Barbarian was also awesome, obviously.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I still love going back to watch my old tapes if there a Big Bossman match on there. I always thought he had the best punches in the WWF in his time and his moves were very unique to him. I love watching him slid under the bottom rope and using that nice big right.

 

As someone said earlier, his music to me was the best WWF produced at the time, and I do mean better than 'Real American' and Ultimate Warriors theme. I sometimes heard myself humming it in the middle of nowhere. 'Well, have you ever been to Cobb County Georgia, and you read the sign that said respect the law and order or it's hard time, well, its hard time...' :)

 

And even before it got to the lyrics you had the slide intro. Closest you've got in recent years in Cade/Murdochs intro

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Paid Members

Great thread.

 

Bossman was clearly one of the better 'big guys' of his generation. He seemed to be larger than life as I watched him a kid. I also spent plenty of time having toy Bossman toy assault heels with the nightstick too. I always loved the Bossmans ring attire and how the shirt would be all ragged and unbuttoned after a shift in the ring. his second stint run with the Coporation and his Big Show feud was also brilliant.

 

.My fondest memory is starting a 'You fat bastard' chant at him that caught on most of the arena in Sheffield '99.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...