Paid Members Carbomb Posted May 5 Paid Members Posted May 5 (edited) Completely unprompted by anything, I remembered that Lex Luger was originally a face when he jumped to the WWF or, rather, the McMahon ecosystem, because he was one of the faces VKM built the ill-fated WBF and Icopro around. Part of that was remembering the frankly bizarre angle they ran of a WBF vs. WWF tug-o'-war match, where the bodybuilders were the faces (though at this point Luger was injured) and captained by Hacksaw Jim Duggan, and the wrestlers were all heels, captained by Mr. Perfect. I had to consult Wrestlecrap for this, and the WWF team were comprised almost entirely of non-muscle gimmick heels - the Berzerker was the only one who could realistically be said to have a strength-orientated character. Flair, DiBiase, IRS, and the Mountie were the rest. Even weirder, Vince jobbed out his team of shiny new faces to the (mostly) sleazy, chickenshit heels. It's such an odd thing that someone who was near the height of his powers as a promoter at the time would ever put himself in such a bizarre booking position that one of his products had to be made to look bad. Edited May 5 by Carbomb Jostein Flo Quote
Paid Members gmoney Posted May 5 Paid Members Posted May 5 This might be a hard thread to contribute too, as I don't know what I can't remember... Quote
Paid Members Carbomb Posted May 5 Author Paid Members Posted May 5 I had thought to add parentheses, but assumed it would be a given, with the context. No matter; will amend. Quote
BarryOVega Posted May 5 Posted May 5 Was Luger a face when he was with WBF? He certainly came across as a heel in his interview at Wrestlemania 8, then again knowing Luger at that point it’s probably just how he came across all the time Quote
Paid Members gmoney Posted May 5 Paid Members Posted May 5 6 minutes ago, Carbomb said: I had thought to add parentheses, but assumed it would be a given, with the context. No matter; will amend. You still have to be able to recall it, no? Certainly still limits my scope. Quote
Paid Members Carbomb Posted May 5 Author Paid Members Posted May 5 2 minutes ago, gmoney said: You still have to be able to recall it, no? Certainly still limits my scope. Yeh, absolutely - I sort of intended this thread to be a repository for bits and bobs that people might recall to memory on occasion, and discussion thereof, so am not expecting it to be a busy one! Quote
The Reverend Posted May 5 Posted May 5 43 minutes ago, BarryOVega said: Was Luger a face when he was with WBF? He certainly came across as a heel in his interview at Wrestlemania 8, then again knowing Luger at that point it’s probably just how he came across all the time I was about to say the same. I can't remember everything about the WMVIII segment, but I do remember being very heelish and seemingly in cahoots with Bobby Heenan (I think I'll fire up Netflix later for a refresh). Wasn't this something Vince was trying to do with the WBF, have the clean-cut heroes but then have the arrogant sort of heels. I know bodybuilding has been a bit like that - hero = Lou Ferrigno and cocky bad guy (foreigner to boot) = Arnold Schwarzenegger in 'Pumping Iron'. Only Vince could bring pro-wrestling shenanigans to bodybuilding. Had it lasted how long would it have been before Gary Strydom (can't be bothered to look it up, but I think that was the name of the guy who was destined to be the big hero. Talk about things you forgot...If that was his name then I think it was the endless adverts in WWF Magazine that have imprinted it on my brain!) got sneak attacked by Lex Liger in the gym? Quote
Paid Members Carbomb Posted May 5 Author Paid Members Posted May 5 (edited) I may have mis-remembered, but I could've sworn he was only associated with Heenan when he was The Narcissist. Might be simply confusing it with how VKM positioned the WBF in the tug-o'-war. EDIT: Just went on Youtube to check his WBF promos, and you're right. He was a heel even then. Edited May 5 by Carbomb Steve Staunton Quote
Paid Members Lion_of_the_Midlands Posted May 5 Paid Members Posted May 5 4 hours ago, gmoney said: This might be a hard thread to contribute too, as I don't know what I can't remember... Quote
Paid Members Lorne Malvo Posted May 5 Paid Members Posted May 5 41 minutes ago, LEGIT said: Quebecers being a thing in WWF in 1998 This has just reminded me that the Headbangers had a Smackdown run in 2016. The Headbangers! Quote
Paid Members JNLister Posted May 5 Paid Members Posted May 5 (edited) 6 hours ago, Carbomb said: Completely unprompted by anything, I remembered that Lex Luger was originally a face when he jumped to the WWF or, rather, the McMahon ecosystem, because he was one of the faces VKM built the ill-fated WBF and Icopro around. Part of that was remembering the frankly bizarre angle they ran of a WBF vs. WWF tug-o'-war match, where the bodybuilders were the faces (though at this point Luger was injured) and captained by Hacksaw Jim Duggan, and the wrestlers were all heels, captained by Mr. Perfect. I had to consult Wrestlecrap for this, and the WWF team were comprised almost entirely of non-muscle gimmick heels - the Berzerker was the only one who could realistically be said to have a strength-orientated character. Flair, DiBiase, IRS, and the Mountie were the rest. Even weirder, Vince jobbed out his team of shiny new faces to the (mostly) sleazy, chickenshit heels. It's such an odd thing that someone who was near the height of his powers as a promoter at the time would ever put himself in such a bizarre booking position that one of his products had to be made to look bad. Meltzer was talking about the tug of war recently and was under the impression it was a shoot because Vince just assumed "bigger muscles = stronger" so it was OK because his babyface bodybuilders would beat the cowardly heels. It turned out functional strength was a whole different thing and the wrestlers were very pleased to win because they resented the bodybuilders getting guaranteed contracts at a time their payoffs were slumping because they were based on house show attendance. Edited May 5 by JNLister Quote
davertfnewman Posted May 5 Posted May 5 Kayfabe, they also implied that Dibiase paid off new referee Bill Alfonso to allow his team to win. Quote
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