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On their last legs ...


IANdrewDiceClay

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Just rewatched the Bulldog -Michaels match and ok maybe I'm talking shit. I still think Bulldog gets pinned like he knows he's leaving but it's my knowledge after the fact that leads me to this.

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In the 1994 Royal rumble section on that site:

 

The Undertaker badly needed some time off due to his back problems (that's why the WWF gave him the gimmick. The bodysuit that he wears actually covers up a back brace that he wears when he wrestles)

 

I presume that's bollocks? Otherwise surely Taker would have retired years ago!

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Back On Topic, and I know it's virtually impossible to watch it now without attaching the context to it, but Team Canada at the Survivor Series 97 have a sense "It's all fucking finished after this". Weirdly, Owen didn't, even knowing he was walking into a three minute squash with a near-cripple. I can imagine it would have taken wild horses to divert his money saving plan for a risky switch to WCW, whereas Bulldog and Anvil were practically on the plane to Atlanta in that match. And that's even considering they didn't even know Bret was getting screwed, they knew even if he left on good terms, he was a meal ticket for a trip down south.

 

In fact, that entire match looks like 8 guys about to get fired actually. Mero was a fucking brand new heel and didn't fit at all, the new Goldust character doesn't translate with all the other people around, Steve Blackman does an amazing job of looking like he actually did come out of the crowd with how awkward his interactions were, and Vader was long dead by this point.

 

I remember bumming Raw hard at this point, but what a shit fucking show Survivor Series 97 is.

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In the 1994 Royal rumble section on that site:

 

The Undertaker badly needed some time off due to his back problems (that's why the WWF gave him the gimmick. The bodysuit that he wears actually covers up a back brace that he wears when he wrestles)

 

I presume that's bollocks? Otherwise surely Taker would have retired years ago!

I can just imagine the booking meeting in 1990.

 

Vince: "Pat how about calling Mean Mark 'Super Sexy' Marcus C?"

 

Pat: "Nah, Vince his back is fucked. He can only wear this long black outfit to cover his back brace".

 

Vince: "A wrestling zombie it is then".

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I remember bumming Raw hard at this point, but what a shit fucking show Survivor Series 97 is.

I never liked that show. In fact, I don't think I've ever watched it since. I've watched the Bret/Shawn match but never the whole show. Back then, I watched everything over and over.

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In the 1994 Royal rumble section on that site:

 

The Undertaker badly needed some time off due to his back problems (that's why the WWF gave him the gimmick. The bodysuit that he wears actually covers up a back brace that he wears when he wrestles)

 

I presume that's bollocks? Otherwise surely Taker would have retired years ago!

 

I think it is, It's a while ago but I'm sure takers wife had given birth prematurely around that time and he needed time off to look after them.

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In the 1994 Royal rumble section on that site:

 

The Undertaker badly needed some time off due to his back problems (that's why the WWF gave him the gimmick. The bodysuit that he wears actually covers up a back brace that he wears when he wrestles)

 

I presume that's bollocks? Otherwise surely Taker would have retired years ago!

 

I think it is, It's a while ago but I'm sure takers wife had given birth prematurely around that time and he needed time off to look after them.

 

It's in the Wrestlecrap book, although I think it was a back support rather than a back brace. It's why, whenever he removed the straps, his torso was still usually covered like a strange corset.

 

Now, whether or not you see Wrestlecrap (and Alvarez) as being a reliable source is the question.

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Only thing i remember of martel in wcw was some angle where he was a face feuding with syxx-pac, ric martel should never be a face.

 

This didn't happen. When Martel debuted in WcW Syxx was injured, and famously was sacked while still on the d/l.

 

He faced Booker T for a title, maybe the US, at some point as well, and it was a VERY good match.

 

This did happen. He had a decent match with Booker at Souled Out, a decent rematch on Nitro where he won the TV title, then lost it to him in a very good match at SuperBrawl VIII in which he got injured. He came back in summer 1998 and hurt (IIRC) his back against some donut eating milk drinking fruit booty, and seeing the writing on the wall, retired.

 

For me it was the Bulldog when he lost the IC belt to Shawn Michaels. A superplex is reversed for the pin and the bulldog just lies there after taking very little punishment. As if to say fuck it, I'm leaving anyway.

 

He was fucked. He'd gone backfirst into the exposed buckle shortly before the superplex is reversed on him. He's lying pretty still because he's in agony.

 

Back On Topic, and I know it's virtually impossible to watch it now without attaching the context to it, but Team Canada at the Survivor Series 97 have a sense "It's all fucking finished after this".

 

I know it was a decent pop for Davey's win, but it's still strange to think Team Canada went over considering they must have had hopes to get some mileage out of the members of Team USA.

 

My favourite memory of thinking "somethings up, wonder if he's off" is when 1-2-3 Kid started showing up with a beard. It just made no sense. Also, did I imagine it or did Marc Mero stop cutting his hair shortly before he finished?

 

To be honest more than changes to appearance, there are certain high profile defeats that really stood out to me as things not looking good for the wrestler in question. Not always right before they left, but certainly indicators that you were spotting them on a very rapid decline.

 

* Yokozuna getting pinned cleanly in a short match by Owen in a KOTR qualifyer on Raw. I remembered when you nearly had to move heaven and Earth to pin Yoko, and the King of Harts made it look piss easy. I knew there would never again be a big feud or moment for 'Zuna, a mighty beast now relegated to appearing a clumsy fat fuck.

 

* Kwang getting pinned by Hakushi on Superstars, spring 1995. OK, so Kwang was a Superstars JTTS anyway, but when this match went down I thought "OK, so not content with him losing to the Brets, Takers and Razors of the world he's now making other lower midcard heels look good? He'll be off soon." He was repackaged as Savio Vega about two weeks later.

 

* Bam Bam's defeat to Goldust at Survivors '95. Watch the match and compare the exact amount of time Bam Bam gets to be on offence ; it's negligible. THAT'S your Horowitzesque extended squash. Not only was Triple B on the defensive most of the match, even when he gets his brief spurt in (heh) he isn't allowed to look close to winning before Goldy outwits him and pins him clean as a sheet.

 

* Vader getting pinned by Bradshaw at Breakdown. OK, so Vader did a lot of jobs as a face in '98, but fuck me, Bradshaw wasn't over in the slightest at the time. It was hard to believe this fat bloke jobbing to the colourless ex Blackjack in a dull match to a sodding neckbreaker had been twice World Champion and contested such exciting matches with Sting, Flair and Cactus just 5-6 years earlier. Lost cause by then.

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In a similar vein to the Bigelow vs Bossman/Duggan examples, Razor getting treated like Barry Horowitz by Vader at IYH 7 was a bit of a surprise to me at the time.

 

You what? He did the job, but he was hardly jobbed out in the manner you're talking about. Vince even put him over big time on commentary which was very unusual for somebody on their way out

.

 

Really? Fair enough, I remember that match being proper one sided. But Razor was one of my favourites back then and I always expected him to come good and win the big one. Seeing him piss about with nappies vs 123 Kid, then his Wrestlemania absence, then getting battered by Vader, it wasn't a good time to be a Razor fan.

 

I might watch that Razor vs Vader match again in a bit, haven't seen it in years. It's probably knowing now that he was leaving that has influenced my memory of that match.

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