Hey Scott, I've got a Tito Santana question. No one mentions that he was one of the few wrestlers to be loyal to Vince for almost 15 years. Did the NWA/WCW ever offer Santana to jump for greener pastures?
Thanks
I don't believe so. Is Tito in the WWE Hall of Fame? Because he really should be, legit.
Valentine vs Garvin from the Rumble,
ReplyDeleteUndertaker vs. Giant Gonzalez from... anything. The Bushwhackers and Tugboat vs. Earthquake and the Nasty Boys from when Tugboat turned heel. Anything from WCW in 1993.
ReplyDeleteYes, he is in the HOF... arriba
ReplyDeleteAnything involving Uncle Elmer.
ReplyDeleteNot gonna lie, as a kid I loved the Hammer Jammer leg brace. I basically had no idea who those guys were but that little bit of story telling really sticks it for me.
ReplyDeleteYeah all those Blondes matches in 93 sucked.
ReplyDeleteI wish he had jumped before JTTS status. He could have had a great run in NWA as TV/US champ level worker. Flair, Horsemen were all right there. Rick Rude, Steve Austin, Vader, etc in 92 instead of el Matador in WWF. He would have been a good role player as Sting, Steamboat ally
ReplyDeleteAlso, Hillbilly Jim matches. BeardMoney, come at me bro.
ReplyDeleteThe millions of fans of the "power of arrivederci" demanded that Tito get inducted in 2004. And he did.
ReplyDeleteTop bringing logic and reason into this.
ReplyDeleteBut fine, rephrase: any WCW match involving PN News and Tex Slazenger.
In terms of in-ring ability, pretty much any Undertaker match before Mankind showed up.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of annoyance at the finish, roughly any Triple H main event match during the Reign of Terror -- Jericho, Goldberg Elimination Chamber, Booker T, RVD, etc. Hell even up to the Punk match in 2011. Also, Cena vs. Brock at Elimination Chamber 2012. I get angrier watching those match finishes more than any man my age should be about the finish of a fake sporting contest.
Uncle Elmer vs. King Kong Bundy. SECONDED.
ReplyDeleteHe went in the same year as Sgt. Slaughter and Bobby Heenan, didn't he?
ReplyDeleteTJ: The Vaudevilliains is one of those great NXT gimmicks that will simply die once Vince gets his hands on them. It's a brilliant gimmick. What can be better than their pre-match promo being done silent film style? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqUJL2BMQnw
ReplyDeleteAfter all, he struck out with Bo Dallas and Adam Rose already.
Hogan/Sting at Starcade
ReplyDeletejudy bagwell on a pole maych
ReplyDeleteI'm officially rescinding my support of the Lucha Dragons in favor of the Vaudevillains. I don't care how talented they are in the ring, they are my new favorite team in NXT.
ReplyDeleteEvery match between Mero/Helmsley and Michaels/Bulldog at IYH: Beware of Dog
ReplyDeletei also like his sister as a singer, arriba mcintyre
ReplyDeleteHe is. ARIBA!
ReplyDeleteWhich Wrestlemania was that?
ReplyDeleteHell of a HOF class.
ReplyDeleteJerry Lawler vs Roddy Piper at KOTR '94.
ReplyDeleteThey made it the main event. Just horrible.
He was way too old.
ReplyDeleteBrock Lesnar vs. Goldberg at WrestleMania XX. If not for Steve Austin's antics and the MSG crowd (rightfully) giving Lesnar and Goldberg their comeuppance, this would be the absolute worst match I have ever seen in my thirty years as a wrestling fan.
ReplyDeleteAMAZING!
ReplyDeleteHe went into the class of 2004, which felt like a make up year since there was that lull from 1996. Thus, you got guys like JYD, Harley Race, Greg Valentine, Bobby Heenan, Don Muraco, Big JOhn Studd, and hell, even Pete Rose for a laugh. A real strong class either way.
ReplyDeleteHe did show up in WCW for a one shot against jeff Jarrett.
ReplyDeleteSuperb.
ReplyDeleteThe fucking Bret-Shawn Iron Man match. Good luck getting through that more than once.
ReplyDeleteNXT skews towards older, smart fans who "get it" when it comes to acts like Vaudevillians.
ReplyDeleteThe gimmick is brilliant on NXT, but I don't see it working out on RAW or Smackdown as the young fans (i.e. the target audience) simply would not understand it, and the crack writing staff would certainly not know what to do with it beyond using it as fodder for forced laughter from Lawler, Cole and JBL.
He's a spanish teacher in New Jersey now.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBsydeMGKis
It's hard with all the tears in the eyes.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. I liken this match to the
ReplyDelete"Heaven's Gate" theory of movie-making that erroneously says the longer a movie is, the more epic it becomes.
76% of WWE's audiences is 18 and older. Plenty of those fans would get it. I could definitely see younger fans laughing at their goofy antics. And it would be a lot funnier than the Santino/Khali/Hornswoggle crap we generally suffer through.
ReplyDeleteThe real issue is that Vince/WWE creative would have no idea how to write them properly.
I've always not only enjoyed that match, but often sneak it onto home made compilation tapes as a lost classic.
ReplyDeleteIt had so many armbars that umm...somebody should have told them to chill out with the armbars.
ReplyDelete98% of WWE's audience wears wigs.
ReplyDeleteI love getting fucked up and watching Uncensored 96. You're crazy, Scott. I would consider the Royal Rumble match 92 itself, to be one of, if not, THE single greatest wrestling match of all time, which just makes the Beverlys/Whackers match that much worse. I absolutely want to kill myself when that one comes on, I probably haven't sat through it since the first time, skip right over it every time.
ReplyDeleteThat match had more armbars in it than Jericho's list of 1004 holds.
ReplyDeleteAw, you can come up with statistics to prove anything, Kent. Forty percent of people know that.
ReplyDeleteAgree about Uncensored '96. It's the Plan 9 From Outer Space of wrestling. It was one of the first matches I watched when I got the network.
ReplyDeleteDoes Mark Henry split them?
ReplyDeleteBam Bam's team vs. The Doinkwhackers and Doinks on a Mission from SS93.
ReplyDeleteHe kept himself in pretty good shape. In recent-ish indy matches I've seen on youtube he's actually not embarassing. In the early- mid 90's he'd have been fine
ReplyDeleteJenna vs Sharmell. The most pathetic business exposing match in recorded human history. I dare you to watch that and not cringe.
ReplyDeleteAny match Jerry Lawler's had in WWE.
ReplyDeleteI think the only re-watchable Iron man match is Brock/Angle. I don't think anybody wants to see HHH/Rock, Bret/Shawn, or god forbid Orton/Cena wrestle each other WWE style for 60 minutes. For some reason those early Smackdown guys had more of a believable strong style, which worked better for a 60 minute match. Bret/Shawn were stiffing the hell out of each other in between Bret working Shawns leg for 20 minutes, Shawn working Brets leg for 20 minutes..so boring.
ReplyDelete"The most pathetic business exposing match in recorded human history." Clearly you have yet to see the JBL/Trishvs. Nowinski/Jackie Gayada match.
ReplyDeletePN News wasn't in the company in 1993 (ducking)
ReplyDeleteOther than the stupid ending, I think that HHH/Rock iron man match rules.
ReplyDeletewm8
ReplyDeleteAgreed on the Vince/ creative part. And while 76% of the audience may indeed be 18 and up, it's the other 24% that WWE seems to cater towards in terms of how storylines and gimmicks are presented.
ReplyDeleteBray Wyatt, for example, was portrayed as a Max Cady / Charles Manson hybrid in NXT, but a few months into his WWE run, he is portrayed as a weirdo with magical powers (or some schlocky gimmick), a gimmick more palpable to WWE's target audience.
If the Vaudevillians made it to the main stage in their current incarnation, I think that the WWE would feel the need to incessantly give the viewers a history lesson on vaudeville and thus water down or outright kill the act.
The gimmick would have as much staying power as a joke in which you have to constantly explain the punch line.
Just my $.02.
I stand by my statement. THEY COULDNT EVEN DO AN IRISH WHIP SPOT PROPERLY.
ReplyDeleteAngle/Shawn Ironman was only 30 minutes, and was decent, but was basically a 2/3 falls match, if anybody even remembers that one. It wasn't a title match either, kind of a weird deal.
ReplyDeleteExcept for the Summerslam '93 match against Bret of course. That's one of my all time favorites.
ReplyDeleteSummerslam 93 ruled!
ReplyDeleteThis was worse.
ReplyDeleteThat Jackie Gayda match? Heroes of Wrestling in general?
ReplyDeleteRick Steiner v Sting at Great American Bash 1999.
ReplyDeleteTo be fair, I enjoyed Lawler's series of matches with Tazz in 2000 if for no other reason than I enjoyed watching Tazz bully Ross.
ReplyDeleteThank god for the network.. now for just a monthly payment of $9.99 I can go and hear Bobby Heenan make that joke anytime I want
ReplyDeleteIt has a unique psychology that wouldn't work today, you kind of have to watch that match in a bubble. But I've always like it too.
ReplyDeleteRock vs. Cena - Mania 29
ReplyDeleteThis. That match still drives me crazy. Stop going for pinfalls in a submission match.
ReplyDeleteThat ones just fine. Nobody wanted it, but you can watch it no problem.
ReplyDeleteRock-HHH was really good.
ReplyDeleteDiesel vs. King Mabel - Summerslam 1995
ReplyDeleteAngle vs. Henry - Royal Rumble 06
"Rosie O'Donnell" vs "Donald Trump." Probably the most embarrassing thing the company has ever done.
ReplyDeleteTrue, I forgot about that one.
ReplyDeleteThere have only been a handful of guys ever who could have hour+ matches I won't fast forward through parts of. Even when I like everyone involved in the match, that's just too long.
ReplyDeleteI can think of a few exceptions, but not many. And all of those had a mid-to-late 80's Ric Flair in them.
Another Primetime episode uploaded to the Network. 5/5/86. So it looks like they ARE starting with Heenan's debut and running from there.
ReplyDeleteThe matches on this show:
Terry & Dory Funk Jr. (w/ Jimmy Hart) defeated Jeff Gripley & Ivan MacDonald at 5:14 when Gripley submitted to Dory's Boston Crab; after the match, Hart branded Gripley (2/18/86; Poughkeepsie, NY; Mid-Hudson Civic Center)
- Bobby Heenan pinned Salvatore Bellomo at 8:56 by blocking a sunset flip into the ring and punching Bellomo in the face (Best of the WWF Vol. 14) (11/26/84; Madison Square Garden)
- B. Brian Blair fought Iron Mike Sharpe to a double count-out at 13:02 (8/25/84; Madison Square Garden)
- Lanny Poffo pinned the Gladiator at 5:19 with a moonsault; Greg Valentine did guest commentary for the bout (11/12/85; Poughkeepsie, NY; Mid-Hudson Civic Center)
- Linda Gonzalez pinned Donna Christianello at 5:18 with a reverse roll up; Greg Valentine & Johnny V did guest commentary for the bout (11/12/85; Poughkeepsie, NY; Mid-Hudson Civic Center)
- Tony Atlas & Tony Garea defeated Steve Lombardi & the Menace at 3:06 when Atlas pinned the Menace with the press slam / splash combo (4/21/86; Poughkeepsie, NY; Mid-Hudson Civic Center)
- Bret Hart & Jim Neidhart (w/ Jimmy Hart) defeated Mario Mancini & Ron Dee at 4:25 when Bret pinned Dee following the Hart Attack (7/30/85; Poughkeepsie, NY; Mid-Hudson Civic Center)
- Ted Arcidi defeated Chuck Simpson via submission with a backbreaker at 2:46 (2/18/86; Poughkeepsie, NY; Mid-Hudson Civic Center)
- King Kong Bundy & Big John Studd (w/ Bobby Heenan) defeated Jim Powers & Mike Saxon at 4:13 when Bundy pinned Saxon with the Avalance and an elbow drop (1/7/86; Poughkeepsie, NY; Mid-Hudson Civic Center)
It's a squash-tacular episode.
Kinda agree. It certainly wasn't a horrible match in work rate but I didn't want to watch that outcome by any means.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know that existed. If they did it 12 years earlier with Lawler as the face that would've been a big deal
ReplyDeleteI feel like the show lives and dies on the Heenan/Gorilla commentary. But, I didn't get the show here, so maybe there's some hidden gems later on?
ReplyDeleteTJ: Raw from this past Monday night was in Greenville, South Carolina. Greenville, South Carolina has long been the southernmost epicenter of Flair Country. Charlotte is the daughter of Ric Flair. Charlotte was thus in the heart of her own 'country'. Hence, why she lost on Monday.
ReplyDeleteMystery solved there, I guess.
I enjoyed this match. Liked it more than their 28 match
ReplyDelete8
ReplyDeletePerfect example of Ambrose's "audience of one" comment
ReplyDeleteI've watched the HHH v. Rock ironman match many times
ReplyDeleteThe nostalgia for Primetime Wrestling is very much the Heenan/Monsoon tandem. Primetime was more often than not the WWE's B-Show (Superstars was their flagship for the entirety of its run, and even Wrestling Challenge gave it a run for its money, too). People watching for the match quality are going to be disappointed.
ReplyDeleteWhat I learned today - according to Wikipedia Elmer once wrestled as Kamala 2. I guess they were afraid that if they didn't add the "2" people would've mistaken him for the other Kamala
ReplyDeleteJust a couple talking (typing?) points from earlier discussions here and on other boards that I thought might be of interest...
ReplyDeleteOn Flash, with all the time travel-y stuff, is totally possible that in a future episode we get to see some legacy characters, like Connor Hawke.
Also, if Cesaro suddenly got dropped back into NXT, I'd have no problem with that.
Not by much, but yes it was.
ReplyDeleteSo there's been a Kamala 2, a Kamala Jr., and a Kamala Jr. Jr.
ReplyDeleteKamala jr was the only one on the dollar menu
ReplyDeleteAlso he wrestled as "The Country Plowboy". Like there are other kinds. Good luck getting work as a plowboy in Manhattan!
ReplyDeleteI was saying in the NXT thread the other night that a few of the guys probably might want to get demoted to NXT from a booking standpoint.
ReplyDeleteYou're probably who I stole that from. Heh.
ReplyDeleteCesaro is the most glaring example of someone who needs to get away from the main roster and flourish in a healthier booking environment. I personally wouldn't mind seeing Kofi Kingston get the Hell away from that New Day nonsense, head to NXT after a few months off and start revamping his character. He's long in the tooth and way too talented to be wasted in his current role.
ReplyDeleteJust bring him back for surprise Rumble appearances, do his big spot, go back to NXT.
ReplyDeleteTwo straight episodes featuring Tony Garea? Bayless must be over the fucking moon!
ReplyDeleteFaarooq vs Crush vs Savio at Ground Zero 1997. Just awful.
ReplyDeleteSo we're not going to suddenly run into a Shawn/Diesel vs. Kid/Razor calibre match all of a sudden, is what you're saying? Bummer.
ReplyDeleteBret vs. Vince. God awful and just downright uncomfortable to watch. Honorable mention to Lawler vs. Cole
ReplyDeleteTito was in the first class of Hall of Famers to be inducted over WrestleMania weekend in 2004.
ReplyDeleteGotch vs. Hackenschmidt Completely unwatchable. Go ahead, try watching it. You're only hope is to invent a time machine, and if you do manage to do that, you probably have more important things to use if for than watching wrestling matches from 1908
ReplyDeleteI feel like Kofi Kingston is the embodiment of the inevitable conclusion of Dolph Ziggler's current tract: a supremely gifted athlete and talented performer with natural charisma who got left on the treadmill while the WWE microwaved Cena and Orton ad nauseum. By the time Kofi had reached his physical peak and matured as a wrestler, he was already two steps behind the next crop of talent coming in, and with NXT stocked, he's only going to find himself further and further away from where he should have been at this point in his career. His mini-series with Orton should've been the start of his ascension into the upper card, just as Ziggler's Survivor Series performance should be his. Time will tell, but I don't have high hopes.
ReplyDeleteThat was one of those instances were I swear I stopped watching WWE programming for a while (I wasn't super into it before, but I dabbled and kept up with the business generally speaking). I couldn't take it anymore. Another one was when Hornswoggle spray painted that hole in the wall in the locker room to get away from Carlito.
ReplyDeleteKing of the Road match, Blacktop Bully v. Dustin Rhodes.
ReplyDeleteThe Doomsday Cage at Uncensored 1996 is glorious if you're in the right frame of mind. Watch is like you're on Mystery Science Theater and you'll have a great time with it. Just ask why they're doing various things and listen to Heenan's commentary, as he's clearly ripping on how stupid the match is with lines like "What a great thing for television!"
ReplyDeleteWhen the Network first launched, I watched the Doomsday Cage match expecting something to be hilariously awful - memorable in how terrible it was. Instead I got the most dreadfully dull match I've ever seen. Who could've possibly thought that a match structured that way would ever work?
ReplyDeleteBully to you, sir!
ReplyDeleteTJ: Abeyance brought this out in the Generico/Steen thread, but it really deserves to be mentioned here as well, because it's fucking brilliant: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwcLDFntJ4I&feature=youtu.be
ReplyDeleteI don't know the results of the NXT taping cycle that they finished yesterday, so if I'm touching on any modicum of future booking, no intentional spoilers here. If there's any justice in the world, William Regal and Kevin Owens have a mini-program over the next few weeks, with Regal giving up his spot as the Commissioner to avenge Zayn and find absolution for his decision to bring in Owens, perhaps in the Bruno Sammartino role ala Savage-Steamboat.
Have Owens and Regal beat the everloving shit out of one another, have KO ultimately dismantle Regal and threaten to MurderDeathKill him, only for Zayn to hit the ring in his big return and brawl all over the place, starting our Owens-Zayn blood feud proper.
Just to beat a dead horse, I need to note again this is during the time of the "youth movement" where Vince felt Randy Savage needed to keep his worthless ass behind the booth.
ReplyDeleteI tapped out and stopped watching for a solid month after that. It wasn't until the WM23 build and a couple of my friends getting back into it that I started watching again.
ReplyDeleteAny takers for Patterson vs. Brisco at KOTR 2000?
ReplyDeleteWhat a weird match. Midway through they just threw out all sense of structure and started spamming finishers with no flow whatsoever.
ReplyDeleteYou may have a rare gem from the tag teams, up to about 1990 or so. The tag ranks really started thinning out once we got to the tail end of Demolition's run and the break-up of the Hart Foundation in 1991. By the end of 1992 the Rockers and the Legion of Doom were gone, and all the company had by 1994 were the Steiners and Quebecers.
ReplyDeleteHe was close to 50 and would have made an absolutely ridiculous Dude with Attitude. Never mind how the Southern crowds would have booed the mexican. He just would not have fit in during that time period at all.
ReplyDeleteI thought of the match more as a spectacle than a magic loaded with logic. I actually don't even think it's a DUD. I'd go ** for it. Sure the match is 8 on 2, but it's not 8 all at once. There are mini-matches throughout. Watching it as a ten year old when I rented the video tape and it provided me with a fun match. Sullivan almost being shoved off the top of the structure and seeing Zeus wrestling again were unique to see. The match had three matches in smaller cages, a match in the ring, a match in a ring inside of the cage, it was something different. Match quality sure it isn't the best or even that good, but if you watch it for the fun factor and abandon all smarkness, it is a fun match.
ReplyDeleteThis one is far more in the "uncomfortable" category and not a bad match, but I still have trouble watching Shane vs. Angle at KOTR 2001.
ReplyDeletehttp://wrestlingsuperstore.com/images/products/detail/GS_AWA_AbdullahButcher.jpg
ReplyDeleteLeast realistic wrestling action figure I've seen
It baffles me how he fucked up Bo Dallas because he was getting really over for a while. Then after the R-Truth loss they just mashed his legs off and haven't looked back.
ReplyDeleteGotta keep everyone down. Last thing we need our big heads in the locker room who aren't related to Mr. Vince McMahon.
ReplyDeleteThat match was stiff as hell too. Good stuff.
ReplyDeleteHis cage match with Punk was actually pretty awesome.
ReplyDeleteOh just The Steiner Brothers. Please. The Steiners and Quebeccers were tearing houses down everywhere they went. Steiners also has some great matches with Money Inc. There is a fantastic cage match between the two.
ReplyDeleteARRIBA!
ReplyDeleteARRRRRRIBA!
ReplyDeleteNo way. That was so great just to watch for the crowd reaction. And that was before they started doing it to get themselves over. Id nominate any modern raw diva match where it's like 4 on 4.
ReplyDeleteThey cheered that worthless piece of garbage Manny Fernandez. Tito might have done alright.
ReplyDeleteTJ because who gives a shit about Tito Santana:
ReplyDelete"Brutality is our business... AND WE'RE OPEN ALL NIGHT LONG!"
I would like to find the person who said "yes, this is a thing a big, scary heel tag team should say in 2014" and rub their nose in that promo until they realize what they did was wrong.
Plenty of room aboard the Zephyr!
ReplyDeleteYou might as well have stuck "WETBACK" on his trunks. Those crowds would have been chanting, "DEPORT TITO!" at him like crazy. No way going to WCW at that time helps him professionally.
ReplyDeleteHis real genius work was back home in Memphis as smooth ladies' man Playboy Frazier.
ReplyDeleteEnh, I dunno. It's kind of inoffensive, and I can see it working on some level.
ReplyDeleteIt's a world ahead of Belieeeeeeeeeve Dat!
Uncomfortable is a different category though I think. Same deal with that rock mankind match where he hit him repeatedly with the chair.
ReplyDeleteI like the way you think.
ReplyDeleteHuckster - Nacho Man. Bitter garbage.
ReplyDeleteI liked Beverlys - Bushwhackers due to Heenan and Gorilla being in rare form. I have no idea how the young, hard-hitting Destruction Crew became a pair of goofs like the Beverlys. You had one job, Vince.
You could always buy two of them, a fork, and a lighter and make a more true to life one.
ReplyDeletehttps://pbs.twimg.com/media/B4v40VtCQAALYp6.jpg:large
ReplyDeleteDon't worry, the erections you have now will eventually start to subside.
I don't know who said it, but it's so cheesy I almost like it.
ReplyDeleteThe entire card of King of the Ring 1995
ReplyDeleteYeah I think it's sort of a diff category than unwatchable. For instance I have no desire to see Orton Cena again in this lifetime but if I had to watch it I'm sure it would be fine.
ReplyDeleteOh yeah. That was the one where she forgot to fall after the bulldog right? That was really awful.
ReplyDeleteHe was still ok in 90-92
ReplyDeleteNot anytime soon, because I'm probably going to watch it a couple more times before the weekend is over.
ReplyDeleteEver since Thursday night, I've been on an insane buzz from the show, and it hasn't worn off yet. I haven't had this kind of infatuation with a wrestling show since... 2004 maybe? Probably further back than that. I've watched Takeover twice now, and I'm seriously considering giving it a third play through before Army-Navy, if I don't go back and watch some other NXT specials first. They have so much talent, and so many storylines that they can run with... I'm a mark again and it's damn fun.
ReplyDeleteSame. I have the house to myself until 5:00 PM this evening, so I'm getting blitzed on NXT and the Army-Navy game.
ReplyDeleteAny New Jack match
ReplyDeleteWhy were the Steiners not on WM10? Japan commitment I assume?
ReplyDeleteUndertaker vs. Giant Gonzalez from Wrestlemania IX. The only good part was seeing WWE be forced to bring it up every year because it was part of the Streak.
ReplyDeleteChico Santana
ReplyDeleteCome to think of it, King of The Ring always seemed to be terrible more often than not. Other than '93 and '98, they always seemed to be a shoe-in for worst show of the year, and quite a few of them are in the very bottom echelon of all-time PPVs.
ReplyDeleteI think they had to cause of rocks injury
ReplyDeleteOh, you misunderstand me. The Steiners and Quebecers were awesome, but there was a steep fall off after that in terms of tag teams comparative to the late-80s when you had five or six teams at the elite level, and then a handful of B-teams that were competent and over to some degree.
ReplyDeleteARMBAR
ReplyDeleteI was there for that match. About 70% of the arena emptyed during the match.
ReplyDelete1994, 1996, 1997, 2001, 2002 were all fine shows.
ReplyDeleteI mean, I liked it. I laughed, but I don't think I was supposed to.
ReplyDeleteHogan. Hogan thought it would work.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. MITB 2011 is probably the last time I had this kind of rasslin' buzz.
ReplyDelete"I'm a big, giant, stupid, dumb baby" is better than "beLIEVE THAT!" or whatever inflection he puts on it this week.
ReplyDeleteIt's just very... It's like someone at the WWE read the Observer's note that the Ascension were going to be like an 80s throwback team, hit up the video archives and decided to make the Ascension ALL OF THE 80S TEAMS AT ONCE.
Like, if they were visibly high on cocaine, you could have told me that was an old, unused promo for some jobbers filmed in 1987 and I would have believed you.
I'm surprised they never gave Tito a training job...
ReplyDelete"THEY ROBBED THE SCHOOL OF TITO!"
Kayfabe News had a pretty hilarious article about that the other day.
ReplyDeleteRegal should be on TV all the time.
ReplyDeleteI have absolutely no recollection of this. When was it?
ReplyDeleteKofi is this generation's Tito Santana... nothing wrong with that
ReplyDeleteMost ecw matches. And that awful sandman sabu match we spoke about on the blog a few months ago. Although that was so bad I think I can watch it again actually just as a social experiment
ReplyDeleteLooks like Fudgie the Whale oversold for nothing.
ReplyDeleteI could buy the Ascension as this generation's version of Demolition or something. I know a lot of people are on about their size, but Demolition were world beaters at their peak, and they're pretty much the same size they were (Ax was 6'3" and Smash 6'2", compared to Konnor's 6'5" and Viktor's 6'1"). I'm actually looking forward to the monster push in the tag ranks, if only because the tag division needs a huge shaekup.
ReplyDeleteSame with those scaffold matches they used to run in the late 80s. Those were just pointless
ReplyDeleteNot sure if this is just Tito putting himself over but he's claimed that the switch to El Matador was supposed to lesd to a main event run. Apparently Vince wanted someone with some international panache with the business nosediving in the states and it came down to Tito Santana and Bret Hart.
ReplyDeleteWell, that's true, there's nothing wrong with it. Tito Santana was a big player as the Intercontinental Champion and then as a tag team champion for much of the 1980s. Tito had a ceiling that he reached; the only thing with Kofi is that I feel like he had more to give, and I don't see how he gets that opportunity moving forward with so many new pieces on the way in.
ReplyDeleteI've heard this before...and laughed at it...but seeing how quickly Vince switched from Eddie to JBL when he lost confidence in Guerrero...it might have been a possibility.
ReplyDeleteI doubt it, though. Bret was an upper mid-carder, Tito was a jobber...and Vince seems to have a track record of telling guys they'll get a world title to massage their egos (i.e. Bad News Brown).
Ya forgot Ventura!
ReplyDeleteI've heard that from different sources, but it's always felt off-kilter to me. Even when he became El Matador, I don't ever recall him being super-duper popular again. By the time 1991-1992 rolled around, Tito Santana kind of fell into the Jimmy Snuka mold of a recognizable name who almost always lost. Even as a kid, I felt like he was kind of out of touch, not to diminish how good the guy was in the 1980s.
ReplyDeleteThat one 30 minute ladder match from Mexico that was featured on a Botchomania was pretty hard to watch, and that was when it was cut down to 3 minutes alone.
ReplyDeleteDo you want to actually enjoy the Bushwhackers-Beverly Brothers match? Try counting how many times Bobby Heenan insults Jameson. I got up to 32.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you 100% because that is EXACTLY what I did.
ReplyDeleteSomeone recently made a post about wrestling dream matches we never saw. I just remembered that when I was a little kid in the 80s, I always wanted to see Steamboat vs. Santana. I saw them as equals (of course, now I know better) and thought the match would have been awesome.
ReplyDelete2011, in retrospect, was a solid year after we got past Wrestlemania, and even WM XXVII was better than people gave it credit for I think. Between the Summer of Punk on Raw and Mark Henry finding his inner-badass and wig-splittin' self, there was some good stuff.
ReplyDeleteThey teamed up as a tag team once, but yeah that would've been the tits.
ReplyDeleteJackie Gayda and Nowinski vs. Trish and Bradshaw
ReplyDeleteIf they're going to insist on having Authority figures on Raw, I would rather it be someone that I like, so Hell, let Regal go back to the main shows.
ReplyDeleteHe wrestled Miz on the ppv before WM for the title. Thats right, a month before WMMiz had to defend against Jerry Lawler ... bit its his fault he stunk as champion because Brass Ring, Dammit!
ReplyDeleteIf anyone wants a preview of Owens/Zayn, the ROH DVD "Kevin Steen: Descent into Madness" has almost the entire feud. Their match at Final Battle 2012 is incredible as well. There were sooooo many ladders used and it was just non-stop brutality. You guys are in for a treat with this feud.
ReplyDeleteDoink/Lawler/midgets survivor series 94 match. The 4 'doinks' match at survivor series 93 is up there too
ReplyDeleteThe Necro Butcher tequila match.
ReplyDeleteNever going to watch the match where Sid broke his leg ever again.
ReplyDeleteIn a perfect world, I want Cesaro to come down to NXT and start a program with Itami to play up the David v. Goliath angle, and move Balor into a singles program with Neville maybe, before Neville heads on (unless they intend to just launch Balor into the main roster straightaway). Itami/Cesaro, Neville/Balor and Owens/Zayn as your big three, with the Vaudevillains taking the tag titles from the Lucha Dragons and Charlotte/Bayley v. Banks/Lynch.
ReplyDeleteAny ironman match. You can't pay me to sit through 29-59 minutes of worthlessness.
ReplyDeleteMe. Because Tito is awesome
ReplyDeleteAgreed. I give a shit less about this post than I do about the glorious tito santana.
ReplyDeleteI would put Santana in his prime at level pegging with Steamboat.
ReplyDeleteScaffold matches are such an artifact. Yeah, the draw is seeing some guy falling a big distance down to the ring, but is it really worth the most dangerous, plodding "action" imaginable preceding it? Thankfully ladder and HIAC matches have rendered them completely pointless.
ReplyDeleteI think it's believable. Bret wasn't really ready for the belt in 92 and his first reign was pretty poor. Tito would have been a better choice.
ReplyDeleteTito leading the nWo would have been huge.
ReplyDeleteI prefer go think of Tito as eighth in charge of the lWo
ReplyDeleteThat's bullshit! Everyone in that goddamn dressing room knew that Bret was the best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be.
ReplyDeleteThe extreme majority of diva's matches are never getting a second look from Mister_E.
ReplyDeleteTito really should have risen up to defend the Spanish announce table during his brief run on commentary.
ReplyDeleteTaco!
ReplyDeleteYeah, it's a great suggestion! But for me, it's definitely a must-watch.
ReplyDeleteSantana - Flair in Tito's prime would have been great.
ReplyDeleteThe soundalike of "Addicted to Love" during Prime Time is pretty great.
ReplyDeleteWow Heenan in action! I love his matches.
ReplyDeleteOh, the crowd reaction was awesome. No doubt. But in terms of the actual match, it was horrible. Neither Lesnar nor Goldberg could be bothered to put forth any effort as they were both leaving the company immediately afterwords.
ReplyDeleteYou had to wonder what many other wrestlers-- who no doubt would have given the right arm to perform at WrestleMania--thought of two goons using their time on the grand stage to make a mockery of wrestling.
It's funny to me that the Road Warriors used to come out to Iron Man, when their longest match ever is maybe 15 minutes.
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