Topic: Wrestling Fans Unite!

@Tasuki - Actually, I think I could have guessed the Cena/Reigns counter program and I haven’t watched WWE in many years, haha! When in doubt, toss Cena, Reigns, or Cena/Reigns in the main event! I actually like John Cena, but I never enjoyed a single second of Roman Reigns. Unless WWE has another golden age up their sleeves, I doubt they stay the top promotion. I’m not sure they’ve been pop culture relevant since the Summer of Punk. Maybe the Festival of Friendship angle, who knows really. Rasslin fandom is passed down through generations, and WWE has been in the toilet for so long that they’re on the verge of losing a generation of fans.

It’s funny how I get bored with Raw, but man does NWA power, Dynamite, Nxt keep my interest, I am very interested in the second labor of Jericho tomorrow.

Also, I watched Starcade 85 today, and man that I quit match is so amazing on that show. Wonder who else has seen that show and match?

@Themagusx1 - That’s one of the greatest pay per view cards ever and the buildup was insane. The cage match was great, and the Dusty/Horsemen blow off after Dusty got put on haaad timeth daddy with a broken leg was amazing. The Hard Times promo selling that card is one of the best ever as well. It was a great era for pro rasslin.

I really enjoyed the first season of Powerrr, but I’m not currently paying to watch it. It’s the only current product I enjoy, but it’s hard for me to make time for rasslin, and I’m just not gonna pay for it no matter how much I like it.

I Understand, the only reason I get to watch it is cause my cousin pays for it and we watch it at his place.

You are absolutely right about that PPV. I think that card demonstrates why I adore that era of the NWA, there was a level of grittiness and even darkness in that promotion that just allowed for these intense storylines to play out. I don’t know if you agree with that but that’s how I see it.

@Themagusx1 - Whole heartedly agree. Dusty was talking about real world problems in the Hard Times promo leading up to that match. The Horsemen literally kept him from putting food on the table. Poor, hungry little Goldust and Stardust! There has to be kayfabe for me to be interested. If the wrestlers don’t care about making it look real, then I don’t care. Most of the wrestlers today can flip nine times, but can’t even throw a decent looking punch. Bruiser Brody would have kicked their heads off.

A cage match in ‘85 was mostly used as a blow off to a long standing feud, and it was almost a guarantee that someone was gonna pump blood in a way that was hard to watch. I miss that. They were so exciting. I’m pretty much an old man yelling at clouds right now, but I don’t really resent what rasslin has become or anyone for liking it; but I know what I like, and I don’t like what I see now. I’m happy I can go on YT and find stuff from an era that I do appreciate.

Edit - I love talking about the old stuff, but it seems like this thread is for new stuff, so I’ll know my role and shut my mouth.

@bimmy-lee dude I love new stuff but man let’s talk old stuff. I am always down for old stuff. Let’s talk old stuff now, I am sure there are others out there that would love to talk about the territory days and all that good stuff. Dynamite kid vs Tiger mask? You know I have always been fan of Sam Houston. What about you? Oh yeah and NWA Road Warriors were the ultimate bad ass tag team! Keyword being NWA.

@Themagusx1 - (Out of an abundance of caution, let me be doubly clear that I do not judge or begrudge anyone for enjoying today’s product, I don’t, but I love pro rasslin, and I want everyone who enjoys it to enjoy it)

Oh man, I will watch Dynamite matches for the rest of my life. Every single thing the guy did looked like it hurt. He looked like he was made outta scrap metal with sharp, pointy edges. The Tiger Mask rivalry was great, and I can also sit and watch The Bulldogs just mow through jabrones in WWF as well. If I could pluck rasslers out of history and book them in a match, Dynamite vs Benoit would be near the top of that list.

Same with the NWA Road Warriors, I get goosebumps thinking about them making their entrance. It legitimately seemed like someone might die during their matches. The Doomsday Device might have been one of the most dangerous finishers ever. If the person receiving it under or over rotated slightly, they were gonna be in bad shape. I think those guys looked legit because they were actually rag dolling people.

I’ve seen some of Sam Houston, but not a lot. Seemed like a real good technical wrestler. I’m pretty sure he’s related to Jake Roberts. I used to see a lot of promotions after school on old cable TV, and I saw him mostly in WCCW; which is another promotion I loved. When I was real young, my local promoter (Dick the Bruiser) used to swap talent with all the other promotions, so I got to see a lot of good rasslers on local TV and even in person a few times.

Do you have the Network? Have you ever watched the Cactus Jack/Vader marches in NWA/WCW from the early/mid 90s? Those were incredible. It was a shocking, unsettling level of violence and disregard. Cactus intentionally had Vader break his nose during a really tight camera shot in the corner turnbuckle. My brother and I were nauseas from it!

Of course, we’re talking blood and guts rasslin here, but NWA also had some of the best technical wrestlers and storylines of the era. We can’t even talk about NWA without mentioning The Horsemen and Flair, Dusty, Harley Race, Magnum, and the Russians.

@Themagusx1 @bimmy-lee Sam Huston and Jake the Snake are brothers. Vice did an episode of Dark Side of the Ring about their family. Their sister was also a wrestler as well as their father, Grizzly Smith.

@bimmy-lee oh man I love your mentality and I wish more fans were like you a do respectable. Now if only cornette would be more open minded like you lol(never going to happen). Dude as a kid the road warriors scared me, but I could not help but watch them regardless. You are right s about doomsday device for sure, too. That was such an amazing.

You know I have only seen one Cactus and Vader, match but you got me intrigued, I have the network and man I am going to watch some of those tonight after aew.(Now I am torn skyward sword or Wrestling). Thanks for the recommendation.

Also you mentioned a Harley Race, he is one who I feel gets lost in the shuffle, is not his match with Flair from starrcade 83 amazing? It’s such a damn good match. I love NWA Harley, to be honest man when these guys went wwe/f it seems like they lost thst edginess at times. What’s your favorite Race match?

Let me ask you this I feel also that Arn Anderson does not get the credit for what he does. He is proof that you don’t have to hold the world title to be one of the greatest. Your thoughts?

@Tasuki oh yeah their sister is Rocking Robin. I really enjoy Darkside of the robin. Do you dig it, and are you into old school wrestling?

@Tasuki - Yeah, that’s right, I forgot exactly how they’re related. Rockin Robin is their sister. I knew about Grizz, tough I don’t think they had a great relationship with him. Jake is one of my favorites. Some of the best promo work of all time, and specifically his DDT is my favorite finisher. I’ve completely forgotten to watch the second season of Dark Side, thanks for the reminder!

Edit - @Themagusx1 - D’oh, we must have been posting at the same time! I’m about to pull dinner out of the over for the kids, but I’ll get back with you this evening. I love Arn!

@bimmy-lee Watch the episode for the whole story, it's probably their best episode yet.

@Themagusx1 Yeah been a fan of wrestling since the early 80s granted is mostly WWF. I did watch a little WCW and ECW back in the day and now I watch AEW and NJPW mostly.

@Tasuki I love AEW and NJPW. I do love NXT, I am not happy with this Carrion Cross situation right now. I love 80s WWE. Can’t go wrong with a lot of those matches, Steamboat Machoman is a classic.

@bimmy-lee awesome it’s been great talking to you and Tasuki. Can’t wait to talk to you more later on.

Who is excited for AEW tonight? It will be airing. In my area in an hour.

@Themagusx1 - Hey thanks man, I’ve enjoyed this as well. I looked up the Cactus/Vader matches and they’re all from 1993. I believe the broken nose match was on the 4/17/93 episode of WCW Saturday Night, which happened to be the first match of the rivalry after Cactus turned on his manager... Harley Race.

Now that guy scared me as a kid! His gravelly voice, service tats, barrel chest... even his goofy perm fro, haha. Seemed like the scariest dude in the building. He could work and cut a vicious promo. I liked the variety of body types back in the day. He wasn’t the biggest or strongest looking dude, but he was just flat out scary. I’d dare say all his matches are watchable (I’m not turned off by someone working a hold, I enjoy the down time to breathe), but I agree with you; I think Starrcade ‘83 was the best match I’ve seen out of Race and Flair. Pretty sure that was the only time Flair actually came off the top rope even though he climbed up there in just about every match.

I loved Arn, he was soooo snug in the ring, but also athletic. His matches are just wonderfully paced and called on the fly in response to the crowd. The word is over used, but they were organic. If he didn’t look like someone’s BA dad, he could have been at the very top of the industry. The Brainbuster legit scared me as a kid too. I wanted him and Tully to be so great when they came to WWF, but Tully had problems and like you said; a lot of these guys transitioned poorly for one reason or another to WWF.

All that said, I grew up a little Hulkamaniac, and I’m not averse to rasslin as over the top pomp and circumstance either. I like variety, from the cartoony WWF, to southern rasslin. My favorite variety is hot blooded studio show with an electric crowd. I never got super into ECW because, as much as I like blood and guts, non stop high risk psychology doesn’t really work for me. They had plenty of great, technical matches; but the promotion was built on insanity, and it was just a bit too much for me.

So, a couple questions for you then: Your favorite person on play by play, and Hollywood or Wolfpack? Hope you enjoyed the AEW show.

@bimmy-lee I did check out thst episode and wow you were right, thanks for the recommendation of a great match. Favorite play by play, I love a schiavone, I always have. Yours? Hollywood just for the fact they were great villains but hey I was. A wolf pack fan. Sorry it’s late I just saw this…favorite NWA heel?

@Themagusx1 - Glad you enjoyed that match. You can probably watch any Cactus/Vader match from ‘93 and enjoy it, though I think that one might be the most intense. I have Gordon Solie and Good Ole JR on near equal footing, but I’ll put Gordon a notch higher. Can’t go wrong with Gorilla either, he and The Brain were iconic together. For NWA heel, I gotta go with The Russian Bear, Ivan Koloff. I had equal parts fear and hatred for that man, so he did his job well. He was really great, and probably a bit under appreciated. How about you?

Have I just stumbled across a place on the internet where some wrestling fans are talking nicely and respectfully to each other?

Have I died and gone to heaven?

@bimmy-lee I forgot about Gordon Sullie are great. All of those guys are great, but you know what two guys that are lost in the shuffle IMO are Bob Cottle and Mike Tenay those are great announcer ears. My favorite Heal, The Butcher for sure, and I have a soft spot for Scot Steiner, he is such a great heel. Least favorite wrestler heel or face? For me it’s a modern day one but boy I can’t stand Matt Riddle. Don’t get me start you?