I think Scott Hudson was pretty cool, from the later years of WCW.
I’ll second the nomination of Joey “Voice of E-C-Dub” Styles.
I’ll second damn near anyone if we can forget that grating, make-me-shut-my-TV-off bitch Mark. Motherfucking. Madden.
Joey Styles would tell you the main man was Gordon Solie. Not knocking Joey, he’s number two play-by-play, and damn good in his own right.
This shouldn’t even ever come up as a point of contention.
I remember an outdoor wrestling event I went to that was put on by the WWA (out of Indianapolis, with Bob Luce as promoter), and they actually to delay the event mid-way through because of bugs. The park where the event was located was next to a river, and when the lights were turned on, every flying insect in the vicinity invaded the ring area while a match was in progress. The ring was littered with dead bugs, and I’m quite amazed that the wrestlers were able to keep their footing. After that match, the lights were turned off for about 10-15 minutes to get rid of the swarm.
I liked wrestling better in the 80’s and early 90’s, when it was more emphasis on actual wrestling and less emphasis on skits and talking segments. I followed Georgia Championship Wrestling when Roddy Piper and Buzz Sawyer were trying to kill each other, NWA and WCW, with the highlights being the Four Horsemen vs. any babyface team that was thrown their way, but especially the Rock N Roll Express (didn’t like them a whole lot), and also WCCW (Von Erichs vs. Freebirds was a NASTY feud, and I was Freebird all the way). I then started following WWF, but mostly for the annouce teams of Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura or Bobby Heenan. Most of the time they were more interesting than the matches themselves.
The early to mid 90’s brought out several small but good promotions that I was able to watch, such as ECW, Smoky Mountan Wrestling, and USWA. I do realize the USWA had been around for a long while, but I wasn’t introduced to it until I started airing it at the station I worked at. Those promotions had a very talented pool of wrestlers to draw from (The Gangstas, Eliminators, The Dudleys, Taz, Cactus Jack, and Shane Douglas in ECW, The late Chris Candido, Tammy Fytch, Brian Lee, Lance Storm and Chris Jericho, The Heavenly Bodies in SMW, and Jerry Lawler, Bill Dundee, Flex Kavana (The Rock), Jeff Jarrett, among others in USWA).
I’ve had my favorites too
- George the Animal Steel, so strange - he would try to eat all the hardware in the ring
- Rowdy Roddy Piper who came up with some wickedly funny insults
- Mick Foley, as Mankind, and all the other characters he came up with
- Rick Flair - NOBODY had more stage presence
As an aside, Hulk Hogan is talking about making a comeback.
Anyone remember the good old days of Wrestling Bulletins? I’m a former publisher of one back in my high school days in the 1980s. I recently rented a DVD of the Von Erichs. Now that I live here in Dallas, I had to explain to my friends about World Class Championship Wrestling and how I used to watch it on an independent tv station in Florida back in the mid 80s.
For those Ric Flair fans, there is a 3 dvd set of Ric Flair now available.
Some observations:
Hurricane’s tag team partner Rosey is the son of "The Wild Samoan” Sika.
Let me throw some love Booker T’s way
The WWE doesn’t seem to know what to do with Heidenreich, Snitsky and Kane all of whom it seems could be developed into main line characters – maybe they are the victims of the HHH microphone hogging
The Undertaker and Kane are NOT brothers
True story: Paul Wight, the Big Show, became involved in professional wrestling when Danny Bonaduce introduced him to Hulk Hogan at a charity basketball event in early 1995
Apparently true story: In late February 2005, Edge (my then-favorite wrestler) had a real-life adulterous affair with WWE Diva Lita, causing her and her long time boyfriend and WWE Superstar Matt Hardy to split, when Matt was contacted by Edge’s wife. The fallout of this affair has resulted in Matt Hardy being released from the WWE.
One of the best parts of Wrestelmainia has become those Hall of Fame Ceremonys
Book definitely gets some love from me. After all, he was the five time, five time, five time, five time, five time WCW champ.
Sucka.
Seriously, Booker has always been a favourite, and yet another who didn’t get the push he deserved because some talentless hoss was taking up the spotlight. IMO, he could have been another Rock if used properly, which is how WCW was booking him at the end. Of course, WCW was already in the toilet at that point, so it didn’t have much of a sustaining effect for the Book man.
IIRC, he’s going to be retiring soon. His knees are just about shot.
The best part about Solie is that wrestlers are forced to converse with him like human beings, which make their storylines, no matter how outlandish, actually plausible.
Some thoughts:
If Booker can beat Angle, he doesn’t need some Joker to take care of Batman.
If Christian knew it was that easy to become a full-fledged face for the first time in his career, he might have done it sooner.
If Paul London was two inches taller and 20 pounds heavier he would be a true ‘wrestling god’ instead of the demigod that he currently is.
Poor Eddie G. He really can’t handle being either the number one heel or number one face. Despite the fact that he can easily climb the mountain when motivated, he can’t stay at the top once he is there.
On Raw: Shelton and Jericho are stuck with the ‘Number 2’ syndrome. That is, they are both on the second tier when it comes to being face and heel, respectively with no prospects of climbing higher. Famous former occupants of Number 2 include Rick Steamboat, Greg Valentine, Ted Dibiase and Jesse Ventura.
This is the ONLY mention of “Macho Man” Randy Savage? My favorite wrestler of all time.
Remember the tournament in Wrestlemania IV? The beginning of the MegaPowers?
I was saddened to learn that Miss Elizabeth died a few years back from an apparent accidental OD.
Anyone have a good website for all the dead wrestlers?
Huh, I thought it was obvious that Crash Holly and Hawk died of ODs, but they’re not listed as such. I corresponded with this guy while working on my honors thesis, so I know he’s got good information.
When did this happen? IIRC, Christian and Edge are no longer referred to as brothers. I also vaguely recall Paul Bearer being Kane’s father.
What do mean by “OD’s”? OD on what? Why is that obvious? I feel like a country bumpkin but have no idea what you are saying (not being chesty)
I meant IRL. For some reason on the Internet and in chatrooms folks, who otherwise understand that these are “storylines” seemed unable to parse reality and a fairly substantial number seem to belive it is literally true. On the show(s) I don’t hear it mentioned much – but it may still be a storyline.
Can anyone do the Anioa family for me?
The Wild Samoans, Afa and Sika, are brothers.
Sika’s son is ROsey.
Yokozuna was their nephew/cousin
How are Rikishi and the Rock related in? Are there any others in this family?
Well, overdoses on drugs. I remember reading about poor Crash. He was at Stevie Richard’s house recovering from something (broken heart?) and Stevie was out on tour.
I’ll see if I can dig up an actual news link but here’s the Wrestling Informer’s page. The WI is, from what I understand, as reliable as you can get (unless you’re Brad Meltzer)
They also have a dead wrestler page for those who may be interested.
Whoops, it looks like Hawk died of a heart attack. Guess it wasn’t so obvoius. IIRC, the WWF actually used his crippling drug addiction in the final storyline and then Hawk’s death (unmentioned) caused them to leave. Well, that and Droz’ unfortunate paralyzation (does anyone know how he’s doing? I always liked him and felt sorry for the guy when I heard).
OK, I can’t dig any stories up, but I recall reading it in “real” newspapers. But Animal does go out and do motivational speaking. That would be totally awesome if he wore his getup and busted through the door in some elementary school auditorium to the “What a rush” music.
Oh, I know the types.
Well, Rock is the grandson of High Chief Peter Miavia who, AFAIK, isn’t related to those guys.
Wikipedia has the following to say about Rikishi:
So, does anyone know how Raw turned out last night? I missed it.
They wasted a lot of time with a ridiculous Diva Search obstacle course (where the prettiest girl, Leyla, had a bit of a wardrobe malfunction) that seemed to take up half the program, Carlito’s Cabana, AND Jericho’s Highlight Reel segments. It looks like they’re building a Jericho-Cena feud, which has potential to be good. Triple H was nowhere to be seen last night, which was nice.
Also, Rene Dupree came out with a ridiculous mustache and beat Val Venis, and Chavo Guerrero told Maria the interviewer that he was forsaking his Hispanic heritage. Dressed as a preppy with a sweater tied around his neck, he announced he would now be known as Kerwin White. The headlining match was Shawn Michaels & Hulk Hogan vs. Kurt Angle & Carlito. After the faces won, Michaels did a heel turn and attacked Hogan, laying him out with the Sweet Chin Music.
MINE! [goes back to chewing on the turnbuckle] MINE!
If anyone can carry an arthritic Hogan to a high-level match at the next PPV, it’s Shawn Michaels. The only sad part is that it probably means no more Michaels / Angle matches.
Wow. Color me underwhelmed. Doesn’t sound like I missed much. Why oh why is Hogan coming back? Hasn’t the world had enough of that fossil? The only time I ever rooted for that idiot was in the initial days of the nWo. (not the lousy, watered down WWF version of it) God I can’t stand Hogan.