Youtube Thread 2000

[Snitsky's back acne]

Brief highlights from a brawl between Macho Man and Ricky Steamboat which seems very antithetical to WWF of 1986/1987.
 

 

[Chili]

This was played on the Between the Sheets podcast recently so I'm posting it here because it's hilarious. From Memphis (so obviously it's good) from 1987 as feuding with Jerry Lawler, Brickhouse Brown forms 'The Commission', where he now acts like a black prince with a faux accent and has his own court, consisting of Badd Company, Don Bass as a singing cowboy who can't sing, Downtown Bruno dressed as a literal court jester, Goliath (some big fella) as a gladiator. Then introducing Karl Fergie as the REAL king of Memphis before the newly turned heel Bubba (Typhoon/Shockmaster) comes out dancing like PN News. Sounds a lot doesn't it? Absolutely hilarious Mempho nonsense that made me laugh and adore how fucking daft wrestling can be. Made all the more wonderful by having Lance Russell on hand to contradic and generally find the whole thing absurd in that brilliant Lance Russell way. Enjoy.

 

 

 

 

[davertfnewman]

Brickhouse was just fucking brilliant. @IANdrewDiceClay and I often talk about his Brickhouse TV show on HighSpots and dishing the dirt on those wrestlers who played protocol. One must do what one must do, he ain't mad at ya.

Edited August 19 by davertfnewman

[Chico Torres]

The Commission era of Memphis is such great nonsense and the kind of thing I sometimes need to watch to remind me why I love wrestling.

All hail the great Brickhouse Brown, a great wrestler who was always up for a gimmick like the Black Prince and The Blackbirds with Action Jackson and Harold T Harris, the black answer to The Freebirds. One of my favourite gimmicks was the short lived topical disaster that was MC Slammer

Also had the all-time great shoot interview which I haven’t watched in probably 20 years but still quotable “I got Jeff Jarrett his first black piece of pussy”

And a moment in time when if only the correct booking decision had been made we could have had the Brickhouse Brown era instead of that other gimp

 

[The Reverend]

Blonde hair, big chest....and there was also Dolly! 

Hulk and Dolly in a music video. I wonder if they ever tried to get her as a special guest for a PPV? 

RIP Dolly! (and that's Rest in Peace - not Hogan in No Holds Barred!)

[davertfnewman]

Just like Ax of all people got to be Jake Bullet in No Holds Barred to do the job for Hulk, it was a surprise to see "Iron" Mike Sharpe staring at the lights while Hulk stared at Dolly here.

[Chili]

Taken a detour from Memphis 86 to go through some compilations and currently watching this 3 hour comp of Jimmy Hart and his First Family. God, Hart is INCREDIBLE on this. As much as a I love his Fed work, I truly think the gold is him as this Memphis pain in the arse. He nails everything about what a non wrestling manager should be. He's weedy, constantly trolling and bullshitting, can talk for days and he's so good at making you want to see him get his head kicked in. He's sooooo annoying, but in the absolute best way possible. I could watch an entire comp of just him irritating Lance Russell.

Any other regional/territory wrestling periods or comps recommended my way would be great (already seen all of Mid South 84/85 and the full run SMW which are two massive favourites)

 

Edited August 26 by Chili

[davertfnewman]

Jimmy was the wimpiest and most annoying manager in the WWF at his peak, which was only made better by the fact that he seemed to be the most invulnerable. He pretty much outlasted all of his peers to make him the winner in that respect.

[BomberPat]

for all the love that Heenan gets, I think Jimmy Hart is the greatest manager of all time, and his work in Memphis is 90% of the reason why. The perfect model for a wrestling manager is the guy so obnoxious that the guy in the audience wants to beat him up, and so wimpy that the guy in the audience believes he could beat him up, so that guy only gets more annoyed every time the manager gets away with it and escapes a beating. Jimmy in Memphis was the absolute master of that, and I still think one of the best models to operate for a wrestling promotion is Top Babyface vs. Heel Manager, with the manager bringing in a succession of guys to try and topple the hero - and for me that stems from Jerry Lawler vs. Jimmy Hart.

[Chico Torres]

Completely agree, Jimmy Hart in Memphis may be the greatest manager of all time. Incredible run from 1980-1985.

Does it get more pro wrestling than this?

[tiger_rick]

Given the clear inspiration for the Don Callis family, I'm docking Jimmy a bunch of points! Although he does get some back for wiggling his jacket at KOTR 1993.

[Snitsky's back acne]

Who's the guy behind Jimmy's left shoulder and why can I not stop staring at his face ...is that even his face? I'm guessing it's a mask because it looks like he has horns but who even is that!?

[gmoney]

Who do you mean? There's just a gap over his shoulder, there's no one there...

[Chico Torres]

It is likely The Prince of Darkness, who teamed with Lucifer, who is presumably the red faced chap standing next to the legendary Porkchop Cash. Under the terrifying masks are long time Memphis utility players Duke Myers and Frank Morell who along with other utility players like Don Bass and Roger Smith (the team with the yellow masks in the photo) were always around and ready to put on the latest mask or gimmick that Lawler gave them.

Duke Myers most notable moment was when he played the Colossus of Death and teamed with Andy Kaufman to face Jerry Lawler.

And while on that topic if you haven’t seen it this is a must watch of Andy’s time in Memphis

 

[Chili]

58 minutes ago, Chico Torres said:

It is likely The Prince of Darkness, who teamed with Lucifer, who is presumably the red faced chap standing next to the legendary Porkchop Cash. Under the terrifying masks are long time Memphis utility players Duke Myers and Frank Morell who along with other utility players like Don Bass and Roger Smith (the team with the yellow masks in the photo) were always around and ready to put on the latest mask or gimmick that Lawler gave them.

Duke Myers most notable moment was when he played the Colossus of Death and teamed with Andy Kaufman to face Jerry Lawler.

And while on that topic if you haven’t seen it this is a must watch of Andy’s time in Memphis

 

 

As an addendum to what Chico posted, here's the Wrestle Me two parter on Kaufman where they go quite in depth on the Letterman appearance too. I agree with Marc in that I actually don't find Kaufman funny or as mythological as his legend is spoken of after seeing almost all his available footage. I get the act, but I don't get any enjoyment out of his stunts (caveat I guess is that an a bit of an outsider artist crossed with troll, I guess laughter was never his main satisfaction he craved as a performer). But I genuinely think his best work is actually in wrestling, because he just gets it, and it's such an outsider art form itself built on bullshit that he could really play with it. It's a real skill that Kaufman and Lawler did that schtick to the local Memphis audience and then with some little tweaks, took it to the New York audience AND on national television and pulled off a masterstroke.

 

Edited August 27 by Chili