2017 Pro Wrestling Thread

Here's a synopsis of the Broken Hardys, in all of its delightful absurdity.

 

Great vids. I'd recommend the archived Sam Roberts podcast with Broken Matt also. It's probably 30-40 minute interview, completely in character, that explains things pretty well

 

Carrie Fisher Had A Box Of 'Booty-O's' Displayed In Her Kitchen

 

I didn't really follow it either, although I happened upon it the night Matt and Jeff had their weird match on their property. It's one of those things that can be totally awesome, or totally weird, at the same time.

 

Jericho had Broken Matt on in full character as well.

 

With their bodies totally covered, Sasha and Alexa Bliss became the first women to wrestle a match in the UAE.

 

Always figured the milestone would have been reached in a burqa and panties match.

 

Bravo.

 

So, NXT is going to start airing on USA on Wednesdays. Does this mean the newest episodes won't be on the Network on Wednesdays? If that's true, I'm going to be a bit miffed.

 

I know they're having a special this week, but is it a permanent thing? I assumed it was a one-off as part of USA's "WWE Week" that they do every year.

 

Watched a couple of "Old School" matches on the Network last night that were interesting.
First one was an MSG match between Hulk Hogan and Ted Dibiase -- from December 1979. Hogan was a nondescript heel managed by Freddie Blasie and billed as making his MSG debut. Dibiase was an equally anonymous face. Hogan hit the Legdrop of Doom, but Dibiase kicked out before Hogan eventually won via bear hug.
It was bizarre and cool seeing two future hall of famers having a random undercard match just a few years before they'd have one of the most memorable feuds of all-time.
Also odd seeing the bear hug used as a finisher for maybe the only time in the past 50 years, and the overall presentation of the card as legit. At the beginning, Howard Finkel introduced the judges from the New York Athletic Commission.

On the same card, Bob Backlund beat Bobby Duncum in a Texas Death Match that basically had no major action outside the ring. Some good spots for the era, though, including a piledriver and Backlund winning with a cool sunset flip out of the corner.
Also on the same card was an NWA championship match between Dusty Rhodes and Harley Race. I guess this was before the McMahons started to really break away from the NWA. Not a terrible match for the era. Race won when via ref stoppage because Dusty was bleeding too badly to continue (even though he was up and walking around).

It's always fun to go back and see stuff like that, those little moments in time right before someone radically shifted their gimmick or the way the matches are presented. Most of the guys looked like your average bar brawler. A 234-pound Bob Backlund was booked as a scrappy, athletic underdog.
Reminds you of how far wrestling has come in 40 years, and how much we take modern athleticism for granted. Tito Santana won a match with a crossbody off the top rope and the fans ate it up because it was the move of a high flyer. If fans in 1979 could jump ahead to 2017 and see a PPV match between Seth Rollins and Kevin Owens they'd crap their pants and their minds would melt.

 

I've seen the Hogan/DiBiase match, as well as a Hogan/Santana match from MSG in '79. As a kid, I had often thought, around '86 or so, what a Hogan vs. Santana match would have been like, and sure enough, the Internets came through for me.

Hogan used the bear hug, and also the over-the-shoulder backbreaker as his finish in his first WWF run. He sometimes would face two or three jobbers and put them all in the bear hug at once.

I've also seen Race, as NWA champ, vs. Backlund, as WWF champ at MSG. They promoted both guys as equal champs. The match itself was a typical slog for its time.

I watched an "Old School" card from Feb. 1986 at Boston Garden, which had the match where Savage beat Santana for the title. Speaking of moves that are commonplace today, but caused people to lose their minds back then, Leaping Lanny Poffo did a move on Paul Christy where Poffo slingshotted himself from the ring to the top rope, then jump off onto Christy on the floor. Crowd went nuts, and even Ventura, who was broadcasting, said he was impressed.

Same card also featured Steele vs. Tiger Chung Lee, in which Steele actually took a wooden barracade and had it balanced up against the ring, but Lee banged Steele's head into it. It was kinda like an early ECW moment.

Steamboat worked with Muraco in something called a Judo Match, in which both guys wore the gi. Was pretty good, with Steamboat winning on a rollup, then getting nailed with a bunch of kendo stick shots.

Main event was Sammartino vs. Piper in a steel cage. Bruno pretty much dominated. Funny part was,since it was February of '86 in Boston, is Piper brought posters out of Jim McMahon and someone else (either Payton or Refrigerator Perry, I can't recall right now) and taped them up in the cage to rile up the Patriots fans.