Pro wrestling is a world filled with a lot of negativity, from the deception, these days often more prevalent behind the scenes than in front, the backstabbing and the jealousy. But on 11/29 in Knoxville, World Championship Wrestling put it all behind to honor someone to whom most fans would see as a very insignificant part of the profession. By the response of his peers, it was made evident he was anything but.
WCW’s unannounced ceremonies for referee Brian Hildebrand, 36, a lifelong wrestling fan who became one of the most universally well-liked people in the profession, facing the toughest fight of his life in his second battle with stomach cancer, reeked of genuine emotion. To paraphrase what Ric Flair said in what may be someday an immortal line, it wasn’t a great wrestling show, it was real. Just like Hildebrand was and is a credit to his profession, what WCW did was very much a credit to the profession as well. The highlight was no doubt when Flair came out, as a surprise guest at the house show, and presented Hildebrand with a replica of the WCW world heavyweight championship belt and said that Hildebrand, not Ric Flair or Hulk Hogan, was really “The Man.”
The show was headlined by a match made partially because it was the match Hildebrand himself wanted to see, Chris Benoit & Dean Malenko vs. Eddie Guerrero & Chris Jericho. Even though it was a house show, which these days to many wrestlers means avoid more than a few bumps if at all possible, the four men worked as hard if not harder than if it was a PPV match more for the audience of one than the other 4,344 fans in the building. The finish saw a referee bump, which led to Hildebrand jumping out of his ringside chair and calling for the bell as Benoit had Jericho in the crossface. At that point Hildebrand took off his shirt and was wearing a Four Horseman t-shirt underneath it.
There has never been a period in American wrestling history where pro wrestling has been the subject of so much mainstream media attention.
Between the shocking victory of Jesse Ventura in the race for Governor of Minnesota, which resulted in front page coverage in newspapers around the country, and the attention pro wrestling itself is receiving due to the mainstream media discovering its popularity boom, it is virtually impossible to escape almost a total bombardment of pro wrestling articles the likes of which have never been seen before.
The election of Ventura, a third party candidate from the Ross Perot-formed Reform Party, who had been running third, and up until the final week, a distant third, in the polls, came out on a national basis as the biggest individual election story, almost as much because of a third party political outsider beating the establishment as because of the novelty of Ventura as a former pro wrestler. Most newspapers gave significant coverage to Ventura on 11/5, many printing the New York Times front page story or localized versions of the same. The demand for Ventura skyrocketed, all the way to his appearing over the weekend on “Meet the Press,” where his comments on Bill and Hilary Clinton, in response to Hilary calling his campaign a “sideshow” and his responding that “I think that she maybe ought to not leave the White House as often as she used to
Bad things seem to happen when she leaves,” springboarded yet another round of front page coverage nationally for Ventura on 11/9. During the show he challenged host Tim Russert to take off his shirt and show off his chest, a challenge Russert didn’t take, but clearly clever methods to get as much media stretch out of his time in the sun as well. CNN did a one hour feature on his life over the weekend, and newspapers across the country and actually around the world were preparing major features on this improbable election result that nobody saw coming. His election inspired the “Today” show to interview Vince McMahon on 11/5 about Ventura, a subject he didn’t seem all that pleased to discuss, probably because Ventura won a much publicized $1 million plus verdict over McMahon in a lawsuit several years ago, although sensing the media tide, both McMahon and Jim Ross changed their tune from days earlier by the time Monday night came around as everyone in wrestling tried to jump on the bandwagon, none more pathetically, however, than Hulk Hogan.
The latest JNPO has landed with special guest Denny Burkholder of CBSSports.com! Josh and Denny went for an hour discussing all kinds of interesting nuggets in the worlds of wrestling, MMA, and sports media in general.
A few highlights:
– How CBS Sports.com has covered MMA in the past, and how Denny helped in that effort in the early days
– The method of pitching stories to the site, especially with pro wrestling
– How he became a lapsed MMA/UFC fan
– Whether the buzz for Saturday’s UFC 194 has got him to click the ‘buy’ button
– The backstory of his oral history of WWF 1985, how he contacted the talent, and what he learned that he didn’t know before
– His observations on Wendi Richter and Paul Orndorff
– Why Hulk Hogan and Roddy Piper weren’t part of the story
The Bryan & Vinny & Craig Show is back today and we’ve got TONS to talk about! We’ve got our usual RETRO TUESDAY spectacular, full reviews of WWF Raw and WCW Monday Nitro from 19 years ago this week! Shawn Michaels, Sid, the NWO, and more! Also, details on how to send in your gifts for this year’s Christmas Show, our latest KARATE FIGHTERS WINTER TOURNAMENT rules and how to enter, and tons more! A fun show as always so check it out~!
The Bryan & Vinny & Craig Show is back today with RETRO TUESDAYS~!, you’re look back at the Monday Night Wars, Raw and Nitro from 19 years ago this week! A bunch of stuff to talk about including the rise of Stone Cold Steve Austin, Survivor Series build, Nitro with the greatest team ever fighting for a shot at the tag titles, SPLIT SCREEN MADNESS and tons more! A fun show as always so check it out~!
1985 was absolutely not the fabled “Attitude Era,” but it was something special, nonetheless. It was the Hogan era, yes, but the WWF at the time was full of superstars who could carry their own weight.
If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a village to put on a successful professional wrestling show, as evidenced by the all-star ensemble the WWF had in 1985. Every episode of TNT gave a wrestler a bit of a push. No matter where they were on the card, they mattered. You could be Salvatore Bellomo and we cared. You could be Hulk Hogan and we cared.
On this episode of TNT, we care, surprisingly, about all of the guests. Mixed in with some hilariously stupid and ill-informed comments from host Vince McMahon and co-host Lord Alfred Hayes and we’ve got quite the episode.
The show kicks off with Cowboy Bob Orton, sans Rowdy Roddy Piper. Vince right aways asks him how his arm is doing. Orton tells him “not good.” McMahon referenced the in-house doctor that analyzed Orton a few weeks who concluded that Orton’s arm was healed. Orton said he and Piper concluded that the doctor was “a quack.”
We go to Orton in action in the ring against jobber named Bob Marcus. Orton was a good wrestler and better than at least three-fourths of the current WWE roster. He had ring psychology — the stuff you learn really well when you grow up in a wrestling family.
Orton was a ring tactician. Headlocks, wrist locks, arm bars, he did it all. The match is highlighted by Jesse The Body Ventura who is shamelessly cheering for Orton. Ventura loved the bad guys and displayed almost an obsessive passion for them.
After Orton gave Marcus a backbreaker, Ventura says “beautful reverse back breaker from Bob Orton there. We like it Bobby, Bobby we like it. He would show signs of his hot and heavy selling for a wrestlers throughout his career, with his description of Ravishing Rick Rude at the original Slammy Awards probably being his apex of his fandom.
Ventura continues to gush about how it takes a lot of guts to step back into the ring with an injury.
“You know everybody says Bob Orton is using that cast as a weapon, but I don’t think so,” Ventura says “I think it is a hindrance. I have seen Bob Orton better without that cast.” Orton wins with his patented Superplex.
Back on the couch, McMahon asks Orton if anyone has ever kicked out of the Superplex. Of course not. This is 1985, not 2015, where it would have taken three Superplexes with the final one on top of a steel chair for Orton to get the win. Orton says no one has ever kicked out of the move and no one ever will. McMahon tries to cause more trouble, asking Orton how much money Piper takes from him. Orton doesn’t sound worried. He shows off a $10,000 Rolex that Piper gave him.
Since when is Piper Orton’s manager. I thought Orton was his bodyguard? Orton insists that “Piper takes care of me.”
McMahon not getting the answer he wants from Orton asks Hayes, who says since Piper is Scottish he is stingy and that Orton is probably making only “$200 or $300” per appearance. WOAH! Slow down. Orton’s not making Wendi Richter money, now. McMahon tells Orton that he needs to check around make sure he’s not getting robbed by Piper and Orton shuts him down.
“I keep myself on horses and in blue jeans. I am happy,” Orton says.
It’s time for our next guest, Gamma Singh. McMahon shows us that you can be brilliant and also not know geography: He introduces Singh as hailing from the country of India before correcting himself saying “the continent of india.”
Singh, uncle to Jinder Mahal, walks out in his turban and traditional Indian garb. McMahon, because he loves to focus on ethnic stereotypes, asks Sing about his challenges in wrestling in America. Singh says learning English was tough and was finding protein other than beef to eat. He doesn’t eat beef.
Singh educates McMahon about the turban. He says that unfortunately everyone thinks when they see him that he is “Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves.” Singh explains that he wears the turban because he is a member of the Sikh religion and that the Sikhs started to wear the turban to distinguish themselves from other people during times of war.
McMahon doesn’t seem too interested in any of this. We go to the ring and and see Singh in action against some guy whom the announcers only refer to as “Butler.”
McMahon and Bruno Sammartino have to be the worst wrestling announcing team in history. And it’s not McMahon’s fault. Bruno is relentless in wanting to always talk about how “in-shape” or “out-of-shape” a wrestler is. That being said, Singh did not have a great body by WWF standards at the time. He was not overly muscular or even fit. Still he was quite the aerial wrestler and showed great submission skills.
Singh won with a flying dropkick. I don’t remember seeing much of Singh during this period. Unless you are 7 foot 4 inches tall and nearly as wide, the Indian wrestlers never really got much of a push. Since Singh is Indian, of course he has to be part of this week’s culture segment. From the deepest, darkest parts of India, Singh has brought an Indian Rock Python.
B. Brian Blair, who is a guest later on the show, is modeling the python, although McMahon doesn’t acknowledge it at the time.
Blair looks really uncomfortable holding this snake and very quickly it gets out of hand. The snake appears to lunge at Blair’s mouth and Blair full-on drops the python on the ground. Blair goes after the python and pulls it by his tail before a handler comes out to take control of the snake.
During all of this, Singh explains how how that snake eats eats rabbits, chickens and ducks, but when he gets older he will need to eat goats and other larger mammals. Scary.
After the snake is escorted off the set, McMahon asks Hayes if he ever wrestled in India and Hayes reminds us just how dorky he is. Hayes says that in India there are wrestlers who are champions of their village and over time they wrestle for championships in their states.
“There are just millions of wrestlers in India,” Hayes says. I guess statistically that is possible.
McMahon, not wanting to be outdone by Hayes for lamest comment of the show, asks Singh why so many Indians have the name Singh and if it is “like Jones in America.”
Singh, who’s coming across like the smartest guy in the room (affirmed later when Mr. Fuji and Muraco show up) explains that all male Sikhs have “Singh” as part of their name. It means “tiger-hearted.”
“If you are a male Sikh, you are a Singh,” he says. The segment ends in time for our next guest, B. Brian Blair.
I never liked Blair at the time. I thought he was a great in-ring performer, but super boring and when he got put in the Killer Bees tag team, it absolutely killed him.
But on this episode he was pretty incredible. Had he learned how to point his two index fingers into the air and shout “Yes!” three times, he might have been a big star (particularly since Triple H wasn’t around). Blair came out in a tight red T-shirt and immediately broke character.
“I am still shaking,” he said, after hold the snake that got loose. “I didn’t’ think they were that strong. I know I am supposed to be a tough wrestler, but I am still shaking.”
We go to the ring and see what made Blair so good. He was at least as good as Bret Hart on the mat, and wrestled a lot like Daniel Bryan. He could do a running knee, a sunset flip and a flying forearm with the best of them. He put on a wrestling clinic against Steve Lombardi, contorting him in positions that are typically only reserved for a yoga class.
Bruno is on the mic and of course has to say what he says about every wrestler with muscles. “Blair is a fine-looking athlete,” Sammartino says. “He is a beautiful wrestler. He is always in tip-top shape.”
Later Bruno says, “not an ounce of fat on his body,” about Blair. McMahon says “Blair will show you all the basics and then some.”
Blair wins the match after coming off the top rope. Before he leaves he plugs an upcoming wrestling tournament sponsored in his name by the Police Athletics League. Blair was probably ahead of his time. He could have been tearing it up in NXT, or kicking out of near-falls in a 30-minute classic with John Cena.
In our final segment, we get the Magnificent Muraco and his manager Mr. Fuji. I have never quite figured out Muraco. He just seemed really creepy to me and hanging out with the maniacal Fuji didn’t help much.
Muraco must have been getting a push here because he is calling out Hulk Hogan and says that he wants a title shot. We go to the ring and we get Muraco against Salvatore Bellomo, one of the TNT veterans. Bellomo, a first-ballot jobber Hall-of-Famer, has a body that let’s just say Bruno Sammartino would not describe as “tip-top shape.” Muraco looks a bit more cut than I remember.
Muraco is dominating the match because that’s what he is supposed to do; he’s getting the push so he needs to win and look good, not lose for the sake of losing in an endless cycle of even-steven booking.
Bellomo puts up a good fight, getting in some right hands, but Muraco is too strong for him. Bellomo goes for a high-cross body block and Muraco catches him and gives him a tombstone pile driver. Back on the couch, Muraco calls the move “the most vicious hold in professional wrestling today. Well, it certainly worked for the Undertaker for 21 years.
It’s been a couple weeks since McMahon has objectified women, so of course we’re due for a sexist segment, just like we need to see Stephanie and Triple H during a 2015 ratings decline.
For some reason, Mr. Fuji has arranged for two women to give Muraco a rub-down. Muraco, surprisingly, looks a bit uncomfortable with the segment. He’s sitting in bikini underwear, legs open as two women stand at his side. Muraco, as a true Hawaiian, insists that the women spread the suntan oil from the bottom up, rather than then the top down like “you silly white people.”
He said he needs to explain how to properly get a sun tan. As Muraco is explaining all of this, the girls can barely contain themselves, giggling and laughing. As the girls start massaging Muraco’s feet, McMahon gets grossed out, but Mr. Fuji is all in.
“Look at how stung his strong his back is,” Fuji says, and Muraco responds to Fuji to “take it easy.” The juvenile humor continues. McMahon asks Fuji what kind of oil he uses on Muraco and Fuji says “1040”.
The girls are just going to town on Muraco, unloading the suntan oil. McMahon says, “this is quite the experience.” The show ends with McMahon wrapping up at his desk saying that Bobby “The Brain” Heenan will be a guest next, when the two models come back out and starting rubbing the oil on Hayes, over his clothes.
Hayes looks uncomfortable, but goes along with it as the show ends.
It’s 1985 and clearly McMahon is having a lot of fun. The WWF is maintaining its popularity even after Mr. T and Cyndi Lauper and his expansion is still shaking up the wrestling world. Many WWF wrestlers are getting pushes. Hulk Hogan is rarely on television, which is a good thing, although he was tearing it up at live shows during this time. Why can’t McMahon do a relaunch of this show on the WWF Network?
I guess Stone Cold’s podcast is meant to fill somewhat of that sit-down interview role, but that show only get’s Austin over — not the guys who need it.
It’s the Bryan & Vinny & Craig Show! We’re looking for your feedback — is this show BETTER OR WORSE with us getting rid of the 2015 Raw report in favor of RETRO TUESDAYS with both Raw and Nitro from 19 years ago this week? Well, one way or another, A FUN SHOW talking TWO GREAT PROGRAMS, so check it out~!
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