KeaneyBlue - The URI Basketball Forum

Nice, peeps. Look at the guy on the mat. Just before Hogan lands on him, he lifts his legs up in the air to accentuate the illusion of being pounded into the mat.

That's why WWE is so great. Great actors.

I still like the old days better. I'll take a chair over the head anyday.

rambone 78 wrote: That's why WWE is so great. Great actors.

Was great. Linda McMahon's political career put a damper on what was a men's soap opera and turned it into a show for kids. Once they turned it from borderline R on TV to PG, it became unwatchable.

i stopped watching toward the tail end of the monday night wars... an age thing i guess.

rambone 78 wrote:Nice, peeps. Look at the guy on the mat. Just before Hogan lands on him, he lifts his legs up in the air to accentuate the illusion of being pounded into the mat.

That's why WWE is so great. Great actors.

I still like the old days better. I'll take a chair over the head anyday.

At the risk of derailing this thread further, the headshot is the one thing they can't really do anymore - it's the one thing you can't really fake I guess. Mick Foley is still pissed The Rock hit him seven times in the head with a chair, and he's a guy who got half his ear exploded in a Japanese deathmatch, if I'm remembering correctly. (They've also toned down the piledriver usage quite a bit, since Owen Hart almost crippled "Stone Cold" Steve Austin with one at the height of his popularity, and midcarder D-Lo Brown DID cripple a guy with one by accident.)

I stopped watching when there were no longer two men in the ring, but rather, every match ended (and still does) with a ring full of interfering wrestlers. People being assualted by various weapons.
Now, guys like Bruno Sammartino and The Iron Shiek, were at one time legitimate wrestlers, who branched out to make a living as "wrestlers".
Now, you have all these steroid cases with waxed legs and chests, who can't wrestle to save themselves. Hogan started it all towards show biz.
Brock Lesner showed how long most wrestlers would survive in MMA.
I have to admit, I liked Goldberg, who was a guy that nobody on the Atlanta Falcons wanted any part of. When he lifted The Big Show straight up and walked around the ring with him, it was, "Holy shit! That guy is strong!"
The Rock is funny, but can't wrestle. Same with Cena. Guys like Lou Albano , The Grand Wizard and Classy Freddie Blassie, were great villains.
Now, it's just talk, talk, talk and boring.

hogan was one of the most boring wrestlers in the world to watch. the same moves over and over again. give me brett hart and shawn michaels any day.

Don't forget "Wild" Red Berry and his Kangaroos.
We saw Bob Backland at a URI football game about 10 years ago. I think he was coaching at the Coast Guard Academy. When we yelled at him from across the field, he waved and started walking like he used to in the ring. Funny guy.
I've known some wrestlers over the years and have always been amazed that the villains are the nicest out of the ring.
One thing you have to say about pro wrestling, they never go on strike.

ramfan85 wrote:Don't forget "Wild" Red Berry and his Kangaroos.
We saw Bob Backland at a URI football game about 10 years ago. I think he was coaching at the Coast Guard Academy. When we yelled at him from across the field, he waved and started walking like he used to in the ring. Funny guy.
I've known some wrestlers over the years and have always been amazed that the villains are the nicest out of the ring.
One thing you have to say about pro wrestling, they never go on strike.

Well, there is that thing where when Ventura tried to organize them for health benefits, he got blacklisted by McMahon, and Hogan was rich enough that he didn't care and thus it was hard to move forward with it. Even now, I think WWE "entertainers" are still independent contractors, and there is a bunch of litigation pending that's challenging that designation. (They essentially are full-time employees, after all.)

Did anyone go to the Royal Rumble at the Providence Civic Center when Diesel was waiting for guys to come out, cause he had thrown everyone out of the ring?? I also believe that was the night that the Owen Hart/Bret Hart feud began.

For all his hype about being the "excellence of exection"; Brett Hart's matches were very similar to Hogan's. He had 3-4 pet moves and then worked for the sharp shooter. That being said; one of my all-time favorites. Top 5 ring skill, mic skill combos.

URIGONZO wrote:Did anyone go to the Royal Rumble at the Providence Civic Center when Diesel was waiting for guys to come out, cause he had thrown everyone out of the ring?? I also believe that was the night that the Owen Hart/Bret Hart feud began.

I was a kid at the time, and begged for my parents to take me, to no avail. And yeah, that was the root of that feud, kind of. Bret and Luger had the first "tie" in the Rumble, which the WWF solved by giving them both a title shot at Mania. When Mania rolled around, Yokozuna beat Luger in the opening match, and to make sure Hart didn't have an advantage, he had to wrestle against Owen... but lost. When Bret won the title later that night, his whole family came out to celebrate, except Owen, who glowered from the entrance.

And sean, I agree with you about Bret Hart. He was a good technical wrestler, but not really much on the flair and entertainment side of things. HBK was much better, and shockingly as time went on, the healthier of the two wrestlers. Jericho is probably the closest thing to HBK nowadays, although he plays the tweener / heel role more often and better than HBK did.

Outside of RIC Flair; no one takes a beating like HBK.
Both guys have the ability to make a shot look like it killed them.
For my money, nothing beats the old Texas wrestling days when the Von Erich's feuded with Chris Adams, Gino Hernandez and the freebirds. Close second is the Monday night wars and the days if the Horsemen attacking Dusty in parking lots.

seanmc94 wrote:Outside of RIC Flair; no one takes a beating like HBK.
Both guys have the ability to make a shot look like it killed them.
For my money, nothing beats the old Texas wrestling days when the Von Erich's feuded with Chris Adams, Gino Hernandez and the freebirds. Close second is the Monday night wars and the days if the Horsemen attacking Dusty in parking lots.

Texas wrestling was a bit before my time, since I was born in 1984. I remember the Texas Tornado (Kerry) had a brief run in the WWF, but I guess he had a good amount of demons like that rest of the family and eventually got fired from the company and died shortly thereafter (although I think the death was an accident).

Hogan's heel turn to really start the Monday Night Wars is still one of the best angles ever in my book. The only thing comparable now will be when / if John Cena turns heel. Smarks have been clamoring for years for it to happen, since he hasn't been a heel since his debut, but it's probably not going to happen until his merchandise sales fall off.

The greatest of all time will always be the Honky Tonk Man. He's cool, he's cocky, he's bad.

URI96 wrote:The greatest of all time will always be the Honky Tonk Man. He's cool, he's cocky, he's bad.

Honky Tonk Man probably made the most out of the least, as far as wrestlers go. He pretty much perfected the arrogant, oafish midcard heel, and he's just been milking it for 30+ years now, even though his ring work (outside of the mannerisms) was never anything special. The closest thing to him now is someone like Daniel Bryan, except he's a five-star wrestler, or Santino, who's the comedy "face" equivalent of Honky.

I always wondered why a guy like Test, Sid Viscious or now Matt Morgan never got bigger pushes. Absolute physical freaks who looked liked killers

seanmc94 wrote:I always wondered why a guy like Test, Sid Viscious or now Matt Morgan never got bigger pushes. Absolute physical freaks who looked liked killers

Geez, they didn't get big pushes to you? Test was in an angle with the owner's daughter, and got IC and WWE title shots despite being horrible in the ring, and perennially hurt. (Unfortunately, like a lot of guys, I believe he eventually got strung out on painkillers and that contributed to his death.)

Sid Vicious / Sid Justice / Psycho Sid was WCW champion in the early 1990s, jumped to WWF and beat Hulk Hogan and got the title there in the mid-1990s, and then was champion during the WCW death spiral in the late 1990s. He'd probably still be in a Kane or Big Show-like role with the WWE if he hadn't ended his WCW career with one of the most gruesome leg injuries ever. (You can find it on Youtube, but it's not for the faint of heart.)

Matt Morgan was another guy who couldn't stay healthy, with a lot of whispering that it's because he is heavily roided up. The WWE had him first and cut him after he couldn't stay healthy, and I think he's still with TNA. He was going to get a big push when Hogan first came around, I believe, but I think he again got hurt at the time.

That tends to be the issue with the bigger guys, and partly why Hogan was on top for so long - The guy didn't get hurt thanks to just keeping it simple, down to a couple low-risk spots. Flair also didn't get hurt much, for probably the same reasons. In contrast, Mark Henry and Batista each got hurt several times before and/or during major pushes, and once it happens, it's tough to gain the company's trust back. I mean, there is always a ready supply of big guys who can kinda wrestle.

Cena's had a couple of big injuries, too.
He's in the Hogan tradition or being a lousy wrestler.
Anyone remember a real bad guy, Ken Patera?
He beat up a police department somewhere in the Midwest, and did time.
Roid rage???? He once flung Bobby Heenan across the ring by putting a belt behind his neck.
Ungodly strong, like Goldberg.

You guys are lucky to grow up in an age when the WWF was pretty entertaining. I caught the tail end of it about when I was 11 and 12, with the Rock and Stone Cold and 'Taker.

Wrestling now has been ruined. Once Linda McMahon decided she was going to repeatedly run for Senate, the realized they needed to tone it down for her to have a chance. I guess she didn't like the fact her opponents kept airing videos of her in WWF gear, getting 400 lb guys asses slammed in her face.

There is no cursing, the blood is minimized, and there really are no polarizing figures. Cena is always bouncing around, The Rock is back partime with Brock Lesnar doing the same thing, so basically they got all of these bigger guys, wrestling maybe half the year if that.

We went to an event for work at the DDC where we got the Luxury Box. Outside of crushing a $50 6 pack, the event was freakin' terrible. I'm confident to say there were 3 preteens to every 1 adult.

rjsuperfly66 wrote:You guys are lucky to grow up in an age when the WWF was pretty entertaining. I caught the tail end of it about when I was 11 and 12, with the Rock and Stone Cold and 'Taker.

Wrestling now has been ruined. Once Linda McMahon decided she was going to repeatedly run for Senate, the realized they needed to tone it down for her to have a chance. I guess she didn't like the fact her opponents kept airing videos of her in WWF gear, getting 400 lb guys asses slammed in her face.

There is no cursing, the blood is minimized, and there really are no polarizing figures. Cena is always bouncing around, The Rock is back partime with Brock Lesnar doing the same thing, so basically they got all of these bigger guys, wrestling maybe half the year if that.

We went to an event for work at the DDC where we got the Luxury Box. Outside of crushing a $50 6 pack, the event was freakin' terrible. I'm confident to say there were 3 preteens to every 1 adult.

Yeah, I still watch here and there. It's weird - Half the show is the WWE going back to its 1980s roots, with clear cut face and heel roles obviously geared toward attracting that 6 to 13 audience, and their parents. The other half of the show is CM Punk being awesome. In theory, it should mean a product that appeals to both crowds, but in practice, it's just a bit of a muddled mess.

I've never understood the draw of pro wrestling. Oh well.

I saw Macho Man Randy Savage win a King of The Ring at the PCC back in the 80's.
Jake The Snake Roberts and his python.
It was a lot of fun.
I found out wrestling was fake, when I saw Bruno Sammartino on a card at the old
Rhode Island Auditorium.
The next week, the exact same card was on their Saturday TV show, with the same results.
It was like finding out Santa wasn't real.
WWE spoiled wrestling with all their endless talking, and bad acting, and four or five guys in the ring in every match.
Funny, nobody ever get disqualified for interference.
There were some great characters in the old days. Professor Tauro Tanaka, The Fabulous Moolah, The Grand Wizard, Kamala,
Bobby The Brain Heenan, Superfly Snuka, The Iron Sheik (look him up on You Tube for some really wild stories!)
Now, it's all tattoed steroid freaks, with no personality and zero wrestling technique, and bad story lines.
Torrie Wilson is replaced by some little person who I can't even remember her name.
Just the devolution of a fun male soap opera.

rodfromcranston wrote:Now, it's all tattoed steroid freaks, with no personality and zero wrestling technique, and bad story lines.
Torrie Wilson is replaced by some little person who I can't even remember her name.
Just the devolution of a fun male soap opera.

I think Torrie mentioned in a shoot that she retired / quit because she was having back issues, and couldn't really wrestle anymore. Stacy Keibler is still doing pretty well for herself - She's dating George Clooney and allegedly was the smokeshow of the Oscars.

I do think the talk of wrestling technique being better back then is a bit overrated though. There have basically always been two types of matches - The pure ring tech stuff, like Savage vs. Steamboat or 1990s WCW cruiserweight stuff, or the heavy on drama stuff, like every match Hogan has been in (except him vs. The Rock and him vs. The Ultimate Warrior, strangely enough, which were both decent matches).

The popularity / quantity of each tends to wax and wane; nowadays, there is more of the short squashes and, at most, you're going to get 20 to 25 minute matches once you take out the entrances. I wish the WWE would bring back the Iron Man match - Some of their top guys could definitely do it, but they're currently wasting a lot of time on the notion that The Rock is actually still a wrestler, and working around limited performances from Brock Lesnar.

As I've said, back then, guys like Bruno, Iron Sheik, and Antonino Rocca, were at one time actual wrestlers,
who added some show biz to their game.
Rocca was the first of the high flying wrestlers, like Superfly, Macho Man and others.
A style you don't see much these days.
The Shiek tells a great story about he and Bruno being accosted by six loudmouths, who were giving them a really bad time. He and Bruno made quick work of the gang. Bruno was a legitimately very powerful man, long before steroids.

rodfromcranston wrote:As I've said, back then, guys like Bruno, Iron Sheik, and Antonino Rocca, were at one time actual wrestlers,
who added some show biz to their game.
Rocca was the first of the high flying wrestlers, like Superfly, Macho Man and others.
A style you don't see much these days.
The Shiek tells a great story about he and Bruno being accosted by six loudmouths, who were giving them a really bad time. He and Bruno made quick work of the gang. Bruno was a legitimately very powerful man, long before steroids.

The problem with flyers nowadays is the schedule. For example, the WWE has Sin Cara, Ray Mysterio and Evan Bourne (he might be released now), and all three have missed major time because their style leads to injuries when you're doing five shows a week. In the old days, you normally weren't doing shows on weekdays, instead, I think it was mostly a Friday, Saturday and Sunday schedule, with some doubles on the weekend days in some markets.

Most of the WWE guys still have good to great amateur backgrounds, but it's downplayed on the actual TV product. Kurt Angle (now with TNA) is a legitimate Olympian. Lesnar won the NCAA heavyweight division in 2000 (and at least according to Wiki, his roommate at the time was an assistant coach named Shelton Benjamin). Dolph Ziggler's high school won two high school national titles while he was there, and went on to excel at Kent State. John Cena didn't wrestle, but was an All-American Division III in football as a center. Jericho played a bit of hockey but learned at the Hart dungeon when he was 19. Punk spent six years in the indies before joining the WWE development territory.

A moment of silence for Paul Bearer.

SGreenwell wrote:Lesnar won the NCAA heavyweight division in 2000 (and at least according to Wiki, his roommate at the time was an assistant coach named Shelton Benjamin).

Benjamin actually wrestled in the WWE, I believe he was brought in by Kurt Angle with Bobby Lashley as part of a "successful olympians" angle. They bounced around for some time, I think became part of the ECW they tried to introduce, and not sure where they ended up.

I only know some of that because those were during some of my last days being able to tolerate it.

rjsuperfly66 wrote:

SGreenwell wrote:Lesnar won the NCAA heavyweight division in 2000 (and at least according to Wiki, his roommate at the time was an assistant coach named Shelton Benjamin).

Benjamin actually wrestled in the WWE, I believe he was brought in by Kurt Angle with Bobby Lashley as part of a "successful olympians" angle. They bounced around for some time, I think became part of the ECW they tried to introduce, and not sure where they ended up.

I only know some of that because those were during some of my last days being able to tolerate it.

Benjamin was a decent hand for a couple years, but he never developed on the mic. I think he peaked as a tag team and IC champ, with a couple shots at the title here and there in non-PPV situations.

URI96 wrote:A moment of silence for Paul Bearer.

This thread really should be locked since it took this long to mention the passing of Paul Bearer. One of the best managers ever!

No more great managers.
Paul Bearer, Bobby the Brain, Grand Wizard, Wild Red Berry,
Classy Freddie Blassie, and Lou Albano.

Another poor move by the WWE (I keep thinking of more and more) was to split into two different shows. Made it impossible to follow being a more casual fan. Having two shows with two seperate WWE champions/tag champions/etc., basically required a very heavy commitment by the fans. I believe within the past year they went back into the old method of combining the cast which was a good move, but not the cast that entralls older generations.

rjsuperfly66 wrote:Another poor move by the WWE (I keep thinking of more and more) was to split into two different shows. Made it impossible to follow being a more casual fan. Having two shows with two seperate WWE champions/tag champions/etc., basically required a very heavy commitment by the fans. I believe within the past year they went back into the old method of combining the cast which was a good move, but not the cast that entralls older generations.

They've pretty much gone back to having all wrestlers on the main shows (Raw and Smackdown), but haven't come out and said that it's permanent and that the brand extension is dead. I always thought that that could have worked, but I think within a year, they were already heavily mixing the shows, and there wasn't a sense of rivalry. Oddly enough, I think one thing that would help the WWE is if TNA became a legitimate competitor, but they've been through a variety of crappy bookers / behind the scenes power guys like Vince Russo and Hulk Hogan.

Ken patera; master if the swinging full Nelson.

They should reunite the titles and bounce them back and forth between shows; create more rivalries that come from somewhere.

Nit every bad guy has to win with outside help

rodfromcranston wrote:No more great managers.
Paul Bearer, Bobby the Brain, Grand Wizard, Wild Red Berry,
Classy Freddie Blassie, and Lou Albano.

The Brain isn't dead yet

URI96 wrote:

rodfromcranston wrote:No more great managers.
Paul Bearer, Bobby the Brain, Grand Wizard, Wild Red Berry,
Classy Freddie Blassie, and Lou Albano.

The Brain isn't dead yet

He's not really active in the business anymore though, unfortunately. He had throat cancer a couple years ago and it really ruined his voice. I believe he's healthy now, thankfully, but he's got more than enough money saved up, so as a result, he mostly just does shoots and special project works here and there.

When wrestling and basketball intersect, it is important and must be posted: http://deadspin.com/someone-put-a-jim-r ... socialflow

Bumping this up - If you haven't seen the main event of Survivor Series yet, you should. It's worth the 30 minutes of your time.

I remember Mr. Fuji and Tauru Tanaka (sp?) as a tag team....

NYGFan_Section208 wrote:I remember Mr. Fuji and Tauru Tanaka (sp?) as a tag team....

Mr Fuji and Professor Toru Tanaka went to high school,together in Hawaii.

Tanaka wrestled Bruno Sammartino in Madison Square Garden for the championship

Just watched Goldberg spear Brock. Felt like I was back in high school.

I miss Jake "The Snake" Roberts. I used to love it when he'd put the Python on top of his victims.

The Dude wrote:I miss Jake "The Snake" Roberts. I used to love it when he'd put the Python on top of his victims.

Have you seen "The Resurrection of Jake the Snake" on Netflix? I havent watched it yet, but have heard its pretty cool.

adam914 wrote:

The Dude wrote:I miss Jake "The Snake" Roberts. I used to love it when he'd put the Python on top of his victims.

Have you seen "The Resurrection of Jake the Snake" on Netflix? I havent watched it yet, but have heard its pretty cool.

I haven't seen it. Don't have Netflix. Bummer.

A sad day for fans...

http://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/cele ... 79-n722536

RIP, George The Animal Steele.
One of a kind.
Very intelligent man outside of the ring,
in contrast to the Neanderthal he played inside the ring.

new 30-30 on Rick Flair

https://uk.sports.yahoo.com/news/ric-fl ... 20751.html

Great documentary on Nature Boy. I started watching wrestling in the mid 90s as a young kid so I caught he very end of his career. Crazy life.