Tully Blanchard - what could have been?

[wandshogun09]

Pretty self explanatory. Been watching some random stuff lately and invariably I always seem to end up back on late 80s WWF. Watched Brain Busters vs Rockers from Saturday Night’s Main Event and got thinking about Tully.

He’ll always be one half of the Brain Busters to me first and foremost. That SummerSlam 89 opener against the Hart Foundation was one of the first matches I ever watched and remains a favourite to this day. Not just for nostalgia reasons either, it’s a great match in its own right. When I picture Tully, it’s in the matching black jackets with Arn. 

Thought they looked boss. Putting Heenan with them never hurt either. It wasn’t until a fair bit later I was able to see his earlier stuff as a Horseman. The Magnum TA matches, the Dusty matches, War Games and all that. 

It’s always baffled me how his career just fizzled away after him and Arn left the WWF at the end of 89. I know about him failing the drug test but it was a wrestler in the 80s getting popped for coke. Hardly a shocker, is it? There wasn’t even drug testing in WCW back then, was there? But Jim Herd gets wind of Tully having a snort while in the WWF and that puts the kibosh on his return in 90? 

What do you think would’ve became of Tully Blanchard had he been a featured player from 1990 to say 95? I know there were talks of him returning to reform the Horsemen in 93 but he says they lowballed him and that’s when they brought in Paul Roma. Just imagine Tully in that role instead. Tully and Arn vs Austin and Pillman in 93 would’ve been incredible. He showed in that great one-off match against Terry Funk at Slamboree in 94 that he still had something left in the tank as well. I’ve never seen the ECW match with Shane Douglas in 95. 

It’s crackers to me that such a strong performer never got a full time spot in one of the major promotions again after that drug test bollocks in 89. Was it more a case of him just being hard to deal with and not being able to get out of his own way? Something to do with him finding religion around that time?

I know he’s done stuff with AEW recently but I don’t have any clue on anything AEW. All I’ve seen is snippets of some Dustin Rhodes there. Are there any promos or stuff I need to see from him in AEW?

One of the real ‘what ifs’ for me. I mean, by 1990 he was 36 years old. So he’d have been hitting the 40s by the time the Monday Night Wars would’ve been getting going. He’d probably already had his very best years by the time he left the WWF. But watching him against Funk in 94, it’s hard to think he couldn’t have really contributed and had some top matches/angles in those lost years from 90-94. Where do you think he’d have fit in? He’d never have been the top guy but I definitely think he could’ve added to either the WCW or WWF rosters in the early to mid 90s. 

I guess this can be a Tully thread in general. We don’t really talk about him that much on here, do we? 

Edited January 1, 2021 by wandshogun09

[Pier Six Brawler]

I think he'd have ended up as a road agent by the time Nitro started. But it was being effectively blackballed from the industry that turned him to religion and got him to clean his act up. If that hadn't have happened he might have ended up dying an early death. 

[RancidPunx]

Did he do a few ECW matches ?

 

I heard the fans turned their backs on the Shane Douglas match .....

 

 

[wandshogun09]

27 minutes ago, RancidPunx said:

Did he do a few ECW matches ?

 

I heard the fans turned their backs on the Shane Douglas match .....

Think he did a couple with Douglas in early 95 and that might’ve been it. I saw an interview with Tully saying the first match was crap because they wanted it to go an hour and he wasn’t in shape for that, plus they had him as the babyface which he said didn’t come naturally. From what I can tell they had a rematch or two after that but I don’t think Tully wrestled anyone else in ECW.

Just been looking at this list on cagematch of matches he had at the end of his career. Had a bunch with Dustin as late as 2006/07 that I wouldn’t mind seeing, a match with Roderick Strong in 2007 that I can’t even imagine and, oddly, teamed with Glacier against the Eaton/Condrey version of the Midnight Express in 2006. I’m going to have to see if there’s footage of any of this later. 

https://www.cagematch.net/?id=2&nr=378&page=4

Edited January 1, 2021 by wandshogun09

[unfitfinlay]

23 minutes ago, wandshogun09 said:

It’s always baffled me how his career just fizzled away after him and Arn left the WWF at the end of 89. I know about him failing the drug test but it was a wrestler in the 80s getting popped for coke. Hardly a shocker, is it? There wasn’t even drug testing in WCW back then, was there? But Jim Herd gets wind of Tully having a snort while in the WWF and that puts the kibosh on his return in 90? 

Pretty sure that was down to money.  It was an excuse to not only pull Tully's contract but to slash Arn's offer as well, because it was based on Tully coming in as well. Arn had heat with Tully for years because of the money he cost him there. It was the same period where Herd was low balling the likes of the Midnights, the Road Warriors and then Flair in negotiations so it would make sense.

After that, Tully's attitude is definitely what held him back. He wasn't well liked by either management or "The Boys" in either company and the longer he was off TV the less of a big deal he was. Refusing to do the job for Funk at Slamboree '94 was particularly silly.  It wouldn't have hurt him at all, but it made sure that WCW never bothered with him again.

[Pier Six Brawler]

I never understood why Tully kept getting booked as a babyface in the 90s (by ECW and Heroes of Wrestling). He was always a fantastic heel, the only one of the Horsemen that never really got cheered, I don't even think he was ever booked as a babyface beyond as a rookie in San Antonio. 

His match with Stan Lane at HoW was the best of the night but it'd have worked much better with Tully as a heel and Stan as a babyface. 

[IANdrewDiceClay]

8 minutes ago, Pier Six Brawler said:

I never understood why Tully kept getting booked as a babyface in the 90s (by ECW and Heroes of Wrestling).

He was doing the "I'm not a piece of shit, honest" act in the 90s. Got big into the God Squad.

[wandshogun09]

1 hour ago, unfitfinlay said:

Refusing to do the job for Funk at Slamboree '94 was particularly silly.  It wouldn't have hurt him at all, but it made sure that WCW never bothered with him again.

Yeah, that’ll be a big part of it. Never knew about that. Who refuses to do the favours for Terry Funk? Christ, I’m sure I read even Bret Hart wanted to put him over (while he was WWF champion) when they had that ‘retirement’ match in 97 but Funk wasn’t having it. I suppose they were testing Tully there to see if he’d be professional about it and, like the 89 drug test, he flunked it.

By 94, I’m not sure where he’d have fit in anyway with Hogan & Mates era WCW about to start. Him and Arn probably would’ve ended up feuding with Zodiac and Shark or something. 90-93 could’ve been ace though with the likes of the Blonds, Steamboat, Windham, Rhodes, Cactus etc knocking about. I think I’d have wanted him to switch over to the WWF in around 94/95 though and finish up there. Him against babyface Shawn and Bret could’ve been fantastic.

Sorry for linking to Mr Rumour and Innuendo but Arn and Tully reconnected on Arn’s podcast recently. Here they are talking about their departure from the WWF in 1989;

Well, Tully and Conrad talk about it while Arn sits there. Full thing’s on YouTube as well. 

Edited January 1, 2021 by wandshogun09