Since someone was just e-mailing me asking about this match, I figured I'd throw this up there. The WWWF didn't actually film the match at the time because it was never intended to be shown and they wanted the title change to be as low-key as possible to prevent rioting, but this is fan footage that showed up many years later with someone adding commentary themselves. WWE of course doesn't own the rights to this, which is why they never show footage in their documentaries and countdown shows and such. Plus it looks pretty crappy. But there you go, the most historic title change until that other one in 1997.
Since someone was just e-mailing me asking about this match, I figured I'd throw this up there. The WWWF didn't actually film the match at the time because it was never intended to be shown and they wanted the title change to be as low-key as possible to prevent rioting, but this is fan footage that showed up many years later with someone adding commentary themselves. WWE of course doesn't own the rights to this, which is why they never show footage in their documentaries and countdown shows and such. Plus it looks pretty crappy. But there you go, the most historic title change until that other one in 1997.
Hogan/Shiek is most historic. Word.
ReplyDeleteThe crowd sounds to be dubbed too.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know what's the deal with the footage of Bruno's first title reign? WWE never seems to use it on archival DVDs or in clips, and there was a surprising few Bruno matches on the Best of MSG DVD despite Bruno being front and center on the DVD cover.
Does WWE just think that most Bruno fans are dead at this point (which is a fair assumption) and that there is no market for this, or does WWE not actually have a lot of early Bruno footage?
Did Bruno ever show up on tv during the Hogan era? I don't remember ever seeing him.
ReplyDeleteSure did. He was a commentator and had mini-feuds with Randy Savage, Roddy Piper, Honky Tonk Man, and Hercules. He also was in his son's corner at the original Mania and was in the Mania 2 battle royal.
ReplyDeleteOf course. Constantly as announcer, plus a feud with Savage.
ReplyDeleteI thought Ivan won via some hijinks though...no? Doesn't look like it.
ReplyDeleteWhat kind of ref bump is that? He's right back up after five seconds! They bred 'em tough in 1971...
ReplyDeletePunk MITB 11 win over Cena.
ReplyDeleteOne big difference between back and then: Can you imagine anyone (excluding Bryan) losing their title in less than 8 minutes in a match that wasn't a cash-in?
ReplyDeleteBy "the most historic title change until that other one in 1997," I'm sure you mean Prince Iaukea defeating Lord Steven Regal for the WCW TV Title.
ReplyDeleteVince Sr. was paranoid about riots. Mr. Muchnick just put on the classiest professional sporting product, which led to well-behaved fans and next to no unrest.
ReplyDeleteI think the match was longer as there were a few cuts in the match.
ReplyDeletehogan over Luger to regain the title?
ReplyDeletejust checked on history of wwe, it was 14:55
ReplyDeleteHe didn't even hook the leg. They made Sammartino look like a chump. Total burial.
ReplyDeleteGreat stuff. Bruno knew how to work a match for a live crowd.
ReplyDeleteActually he did. He was in that NFL battle royal main event for the Chicago part of WM 2.
ReplyDeleteJets could have Vick, Geno and RGIII, and would still probably draft at least 2 QB'S in this year's draft.
ReplyDeleteWWE and New Japan have done that, too. NJPW used off-air TV recordings for their big Tiger Mask set, and the Bret-Andre match from one of Bret's sets is a Youtube rip.
ReplyDeleteThat was Rick Martel's finisher for a brief period circa 1990.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it's the camera angle, but that kneedrop looked like it missed.
ReplyDeleteThat ha never been painted as any kind of main event.
ReplyDeleteUndertaker beating Sid for the title wasn't that big a deal, Scott.
ReplyDeleteThat was so annoying. They couldn't find the guy who ripped that match to YouTube and changed up whatever his source was?
ReplyDeleteWasnt it the main event in Chicago that night?
ReplyDeleteLots of stuff that wad trapped in the old Boston Garden.
ReplyDeleteYep. Didn't go on last, but to me, the Main Event is the big draw. The Battle Royal was definitely the big draw of that part of the card.
ReplyDeleteI would say that the 1988 title change was more historic than this one.
ReplyDeleteThe main event was Bulldogs vs Dream Team.
ReplyDeleteYeah, but women wrestlers get only about 3 tolerable years of booking before it's jobberville for them.
ReplyDeleteI dunno, I hope AJ bucks the trend.
You had a celebrity battle royal, a tag title match, a women's title match, and a flag match with with international ramifications. Truly every match was a main event!
ReplyDeleteOne minute into it and the announcer said it was the greatest match of all time. Even Tony Schiavone is impressed.
ReplyDeleteCould they have had a more generic Italian guy doing the commentating? As a pisan I was offended by Joey Bag-A-Donuts call of this historic match.
ReplyDeleteSAM-AH-TEEN-OH
ReplyDeleteIt's literally because he's a big lug, and Vince will push anyone who's massive and imposing. He has a very well documented hard on for overly muscled talent, of course - but his wider disconnection from reality helps too. This is no longer a game filled exclusively with insanely roided beefcakes. Fans react well to smaller guys, and buy them as threats. Fans - marks and smarks alike - value quality wrestling over two meatheads hitting each other with fake punches etc.
ReplyDeleteProbably wishful thinking on my part, but Ziggler's performance in the recent SurSer main made me think they might've finally wised up to this. But apparently not...
I expected, and was hoping for, more old-timey fan rioting.
ReplyDeletePretty sure he meant Lex Luger's landscape-shifting five-day WCW title reign.
ReplyDeleteThe thing is, Koloff won fair and square. So... Would the fans really have been justified in rioting? I mean, the guy won. (then again, it's not like rioters need a valid excuse)
ReplyDeleteSo, when I was in elementary school, think late 80s, we had a camcorder and it was roughly the size of a bazooka. What kind of fan cam camera are we talking about here?
ReplyDeleteAre we sure this is *the* match? It wasn't uncommon for a big match to be repeated in different cities.
ReplyDeleteI just can't believe WWE wouldn't be able to purchase footage of one of the most important moments in its history. Even if the owner was reluctant to sell, they'd find a way.
The Capitol tapes were treated like shit and most of the footage is gone. They were either thrown out or taped over to save money. Vince Jr. rescued what he could but it seems like no one before 75 had any inkling how important archival material would become.
ReplyDeleteEeeetsaaameeee Mario!!
ReplyDeleteKneedrops off the top rope are always missed, otherwise you'd kill the guy.
ReplyDeleteTo be fair, that's more or less the deal with every media company. Nobody thought this stuff would be valuable
ReplyDeleteTo put it in perspective: despite being broadcast by two national networks (CBS and NBC), there is no complete copy of Super Bowl I, and until a nearly complete copy was found in a Pennsylvania attic in 2011, only short clips were known to exist.
A majority of World Series games between 1952-1974 are missing or incomplete, and there is little to no footage of World Series games prior 1952.
Depends on if he stirred up the crowd with shit talking with interviews or not.
ReplyDeleteLook up Sammartino/Santana vs. Adonis/Savage cage match. It's pretty good.
ReplyDeleteThe advertised main even was the battle royal.
ReplyDeletevideo cameras in the 60s were quite small.
ReplyDeleteThe Wall vs The KISS Demon was advertised as a main event. That doesn't make it so.
ReplyDeletethis makes me realize how much of a visionary (no survivor series pun here) Vince is/was
ReplyDeleteHmm...ok. I guess the one I'm remembering was one of the early VHS camcorders.
ReplyDeletethat's real heel heat, stunning the crowd into silence with a victory
ReplyDeletethe Sid/Bret title change on RAW
ReplyDeleteThis is Vince's daddy not Vince himself.
ReplyDeleteBruno was a commentator for the WWF syndicated shows from 1984-1988.
ReplyDeleteThe battle royal was the rosemont main event. Period.
ReplyDeleteI'm assuming that he misspoke, and meant TLC 2012, on which Punk didn't appear, Cena main evented, and it did worse than 2011.
ReplyDeleteNo, he definitely meant TLC 2011. He made something up or got his facts wrong. No big deal
ReplyDeleteIt was Wrestlemania 2, not Wrestlemania 2.1, 2.2, and 2.3. Hogan vs Bundy was the only main event. Period.
ReplyDeleteGood point but of those four Rosemont matches andre was the star and his match was the draw and selling point.
ReplyDeleteRight, he meant that TLC 2011 did BETTER THAN, but what I'm saying is that it did better than TLC 2012, a show he missed, headlined by Cena, NOT TLC 2010. Is mixing up the word "before" for "after" really that hard to believe in an meandering "interview" bouncing back and forth over a two and half year timespan?
ReplyDeleteAnd if he didn't mean that, then I'll say it for him. TLC 2011, headlined by Punk, sans Cena, did better than TLC 2012, headlined by Cena, sans Punk.
So regardless, Bruno was not headlining this so-called "main event"
ReplyDeleteI still don't see the problem with a triple threat headlining 29. The crowd shat all over the finish and post-match celebration anyway, so it's not as though leaving Punk out prevented that. And it could've just been a regular one-fall match, rather than elimination-style, so as to not disrupt it midway. The finish could still come down to Cena and Rock, with Punk indisposed. I think Punk probably suggested the elimination so as to emphasize how little he cared about being put over, not as the only booking option.
ReplyDeleteFar from being unworkable, I think the triple threat was creatively preferable. All three had individual issues with each other, Punk-Cena, Rock-Cena, and Punk-Rock, and had been the biggest stars in company over the preceding two years. Punk's presence also lessens the predictability of Cena getting his win back over Rock, and addresses the biggest flaw in the lifeless Rock-Cena II build: that they were inevitably building to something no one wanted to see. The whole point of a rematch, in principle, is to see the hero avenge his loss. The problem with Rock-Cena II was that the audience already saw the desired result the first time, and was now trudging towards something they wanted no part of. Punk's presence at least disguises this inevitability better, and the added dynamics of Punk-Cena and Punk-Rock freshens up the build, while still going back to the Rock-Cena cash-cow.
Cena still gets to pin Rock for the title, and the crowd is no less pissed. Punk bitches that he was never beaten for his title, and we get the final Punk-Cena blowoff at Extreme Rules. Cena wins, of course, Heyman has the Shield turf Punk on RAW the next night, and Punk gets his vacation until SummerSlam this time.
In the WM undercard, run Taker-Brock a year earlier, and HHH can team with Orton and Sheamus to be the first super-team to finally defeat the Shield.
... and a lot more respect for not filming it for that reason than the LOD refusing to drop the titles to Money Inc back in the day if there were even still photographs taken of the match
ReplyDeleteCirca CM Punk: "pay me like it was-"
ReplyDeleteCorrect Andre and maybe Fridge were the headliners.
ReplyDeleteI think I've also read that there is no footage anywhere of Walter Cronkite doing the news, outside of the famous clip where he announces Kennedy is dead.
ReplyDelete