Hey Scott quick question
I was reading up on the past Meltzer's Wrestling Observer awards. I've been watching wrestling since prolly 82 or so, so I know pretty much about everything that was awarded. In 81, he gave the most disgusting promotional tactic to "Monster Character" in Lebelle Promotions. What is this? I have tried looking it up and am unsuccessful. Also in 82, the most disgusting promotional tactic was 'Bob Backlund as WWF Champion'. What was so disgusting about this? I assume he was pretty stale at this point, but was it really *THAT* disgusting of a tactic? Just a couple questions for you
I was reading up on the past Meltzer's Wrestling Observer awards. I've been watching wrestling since prolly 82 or so, so I know pretty much about everything that was awarded. In 81, he gave the most disgusting promotional tactic to "Monster Character" in Lebelle Promotions. What is this? I have tried looking it up and am unsuccessful. Also in 82, the most disgusting promotional tactic was 'Bob Backlund as WWF Champion'. What was so disgusting about this? I assume he was pretty stale at this point, but was it really *THAT* disgusting of a tactic? Just a couple questions for you
Meltzer was asked about the Backlund one just recently, and even he doesn't remember what the deal was there. Early 80s Dave was a different beast than today, with the awards more based on his own whims of the time than any kind of scientific voting method. So basically he or some of his friends might have been really sick of Backlund at the time.
The "monster character", no clue there either. I barely even remember Lebelle's promotion, although again it would have been pretty specific to someone like Meltzer who was based in California in that area at the time.
So yeah, not really much help for you, sorry.
Can we all finally agree that Backlund wasn't as terrible a draw as some have claimed? Sure he wasn't on the level of Hogan or Austin but he was a great regional draw for the North East. And hardcore Bruno fans don't want to hear this but guess what, Sammartino couldn't draw outside of New York either.
ReplyDelete"I tried looking it up." *PLEASE*. Googling
ReplyDelete"monster character" lebelle promotions
http://board.deathvalleydriver.com/topic/21463-wons-most-disgusting-promotional-tactic-award/
Not that I entirely disagree with our statement, but what about this blog post is supposed to be the overwhelming evidence that sways the masses in Backlund's favor?
ReplyDeleteI missed that post, sorry. But I was more talking in a general sense.
ReplyDeleteNo problem, just was wondering if i missed an edit on Scott's post or something.
ReplyDeleteHoly shit that "Monster character" gimmick sounds AWFUL. Not really disgusting though.
ReplyDeleteKevin Nash: I remember being inspired when I had my first chance for the WWF Championship... which it was called back then, the WWF Championship, not WWE... and I went out in front of 29,000 people at Madison Square Garden and defeated him (Bob Backlund) in a record 8 seconds.
ReplyDeleteAlex Shelley: Does the Garden even hold 29,000 people?
Kevin Nash: Well it did that night.
Must have been quite the spillover crowd lol.
ReplyDeleteWhat's funny is that I believe that show had the distinction of being one of the worst (if not the worst) attended MSG shows ever.
"Most Disgusting" used to be "Most Questionable", or something similar.
ReplyDeleteNash and Shelly were hilarious together in TNA
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure Bruno drew fine in Philly.
ReplyDeleteWho claimed Backlund was a terrible draw? I've never heard an informed wrestling fan say that, not sure what controversy you're trying to drum up.
ReplyDeleteAs for Bruno, he did just fine in the north east which isn't relegated just to NY.
The WWF was doing very well with Backlund on top in 1982. The next year, however, was a very different story. The roster was terrible. Backlund cut his hair and did the amateur wrestling bit that excited no one. Alot of older guys hanging around (Ivan Koloff, Ray Stevens, George Steele's annual summer vacation). Just a very bad year until Vince Jr. brought in Hogan and turned things around.
ReplyDeleteI was there too. It was total shock when Nash won that quick and the roof nearly blew off the Garden.
ReplyDeletePittsburgh isn't in New York.
ReplyDeleteWHAT HAPPENED TO BACKLUND DURING 1984-1991? I KNOW HE DID SOME BRIEF APPEARANCES BUT WAS THERE ANY REASON WHY HE TOOK SUCH A LONG HIATUS? WAS HE UNDESIRABLE BY THE PROMOTERS?
ReplyDeleteWas banished to the Phantom Zone.
ReplyDeleteBOB WOULD BE A GREAT ADDITION TO THE NO SPIN ZONE
ReplyDeleteI meant to say the North East.
ReplyDeleteI think in the days before Meltzer the equivalent of a "smart mark" was the crotchety old fuck who demanded wrestlers to be legitimate grapplers and not gimmicky (similar to workrate purists now) and Backlund on top was an attempt to pacify them.
ReplyDelete"Early 80s Dave was a different beast than today, with the awards more based on his own whims of the time than any kind of scientific voting method."
ReplyDeleteSo...just like 2013 Dave.
I tghik in yte dayszas nbrgfe Melxaszert the rtweabvltn of s [kajrt mqyk< qas eth cetotdiy p;d fuvl qlo masfed wrypaers to be lwtomste grappidrs ans mie glbbixlu 9aimmmlqw t wodkwqty jpeists now0 and Gwcklume on ypi qas an syywmpp ry pacjjdy them.
ReplyDeleteAm I the only one who finds CAPS LOCK MAN to constantly bring the goods? Love his posts.
ReplyDeleteDave hates New Japan lololololololol
ReplyDeleteSo, are you related to Mega Man?
ReplyDeleteLuckily, that's where they ran shows.
ReplyDeleteHe was working in TNA as Rob Frontlund.
ReplyDeleteShieky Baby is what turned everything around jabroni...
ReplyDeleteAside from Backlund was the Gino Hernandez thing where they treated his death and Chris Adams kayfabe injury as one in the same?
ReplyDeleteNICE TRY. TNA OPENED IN 2002, BUDDY
ReplyDeleteYep. They show it on the WWE World Class doc, not sure about the independent one.
ReplyDeleteYeah. Seems more like "Most disgustingly bad" than disgusting as a synonym for gross or tasteless.
ReplyDeleteHoly shit I can't imagine Vince Jr. ever even considering catering to the smart mark crowd for better or worse.
ReplyDeleteSo...basically a precursor to Undertaker if DVD is to be believed!
ReplyDeleteAlso lol at this since it more or less happened:
ReplyDeleteGuest_BeanFriedPork_*
Guests
Posted 16 July 2006 - 11:01 PM
EDIT: Fuck. I thought that read "1992:
Backlund as Champion." My bad. Yeah, my understanding of that was
imagine extending John Cena's initial reign out to five years.
PEOPLE LOVE ME OR HATE ME BUT THEY ALL RESPECT ME
ReplyDeleteWOOOOOOOOO!
ReplyDeleteIf I say your name backwards you lose your power right?
ReplyDeleteWell the dynamic wouldn't quite have been the same, since it woudlve more been the old timers questioning WWWF's credibility after all those years with a "gimmick" like Bruno on top.
ReplyDeleteYeah, um No....
ReplyDeleteI think he may have been involved in Herb Abram's UWF promotion at some point but that did last long anyway!
ReplyDeletehe was captured by the new breed and taken to the alternate 2002 where dusty rhodes was president.
ReplyDeleteafter several years of genetic tsting, warped his brain, he got free and time traveled back ending up in 93 as the crazed backlund we know today
With some of the lame ass bosses in the later MegaMan games it wouldn't surprise me.
ReplyDeleteHe won me over when Bruno comes back and he goes They should have Bruno do commentary on Fully Loaded 98'.
ReplyDeleteYou're right, Hell isn't New York.
ReplyDeleteOn one of the Classics on Demand roundtables, they discussed Backlund at length and Mean Gene told a pretty amusing story about his push. He said for years and years in the AWA locker room, there was a rumor that Verne had handed Bob over to Vince, Sr., no questions asked, and said, "If you can find a way to make a dime off of this guy, I'll..." and Gene just kind of trailed off and left it to the imagination.
ReplyDeleteI rather like the idea that Backlund was pushed because of a "Trading Places" style bet between two promoters. "I've taken a bland, colorless, awkward guy with no promo skills and made him the center of the promotion; at the same time, I took the best mic worker of the decade with the body of a Greek god, yanked the belt off of him, and drummed him out of the business entirely for a few years. You owe me one dollar, Verne."
That's so random and terrific. It's one of those things where I just can't compute how someone would even think of such a thing.
ReplyDeleteIn this day and age, what the fuck is this world coming to? I can't believe this, prejudice against - wrestling fans - prejudiced against Italians.
ReplyDeleteMeltzer seemed like a real dick back in the day. Some of his old reviews (of well-remembered WWF stuff even) were basically "RAAAHHHHH EVERYTHING SUCKS DICK EXCEPT FOR ONE MATCH!!" He sort of started out the way a lot of Internet fans do at first- all doom & gloom and cynicism. His anti-WWF bias was really obvious, too. Sort of like those elitist guys who claim to only like obscure bands & movies so they sound more cool.
ReplyDeleteThat didn't REALLY happen did it?
ReplyDeletenow instead of anti--WWF bias it is just anti-wrestling
ReplyDeleteFollowing that link I found this gem:
ReplyDeleteIn '87, when The Nightmares went against Carl Styles and Ranger Ross, the Nightmares pulled out Styles' glass eye.
Given the power of hindsight, Dusty would have been a much better choice for president in 2002 than what we got (George W. Bush, also known as the undisputed worst president of all time).
ReplyDeleteLooks like Emma Stone has hacked cult's account.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I've wondered about those awards is how has CZW never won Worst Promotion when they should be winning that award at least every other year?
ReplyDeleteAnd it can't be because they're minor league because Herb Abrams' UWF won that award and no one in their right frame of mind (or coked out of his or her skull frame of mind for that matter) thought that atrocity was a major league promotion.
Yeah, there's way too much UFC coverage, especially given its recent decline in interest. It's like if an NFL publication covered poker just because it also airs on ESPN.
ReplyDeleteAt least he wasn't thinking the Midwest, otherwise he would have ended up typing the Mid East.
ReplyDeleteBranson, Missouri moved to Pittsburgh?
ReplyDeleteYou might not like what CZW does (I don't either) but they do what they do well. Not like its XPW or something.
ReplyDeleteNope, it's in Michigan.
ReplyDeleteIt's odd that Meltzer doesn't remember why Backlund as champ in '82 was most disgusting promotional tactic. if I had to guess, it had to be that, by then, Backlund on top was starting to run its course. Also, they made him look weak against Snuka when they fought at MSG, something they had never done before; Backlund always won his feuds decisively. Vince must have figured Snuka was too much of a risk even then to be champ; he didn't even have to be a transitional champion, because he turned babyface a few months later.
ReplyDeleteWhat?! Give Maffew HOURS of CONTENT!?
ReplyDeleteThey need to quit appearing on Botchamania to even remotely be considered a minor success. Hell, I don't think Maffew has even made a Botchamania that didn't include a least a couple of CZW botches, whereas there's been almost no XPW footage on Botchamania even though XPW footage is now pretty much public domain thanks to the incompetence of Rob Black, Kevin Kleinrock and Big Vision Entertainment.
ReplyDeleteExcept the awards are reader-voted, not Dave-decided, and he's also on record as saying if he didn't have to cover so much MMA as part of his job, there's no way he would watch the majority of it, and would spend more time watching wrestling.
ReplyDeleteBut, you know, well done for ignoring the facts so you could get your needless, uninformed little digs in.
Just like John Ashcroft wanted it. And the lack of wrestling talent in CZW is just implicit with the garbage style. They still know their audience and have been running for more than a decade now. Also, most of the XPW botches got edited off the tapes, hence why half the time they showed highlights instead of matches.
ReplyDelete