Extreme Rules is tomorrow night and instead of previewing the event I thought I would look back at some matches that made people say "What the hell?" while it happened. A strange subject but one that popped into my head.
Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels at Survivor Series 1997
Enough said really but I'll go into some details. If you're a wrestling fan, and if you're reading this you are, then you will know what happened in this match. I believe that no matter who you are when you were watching this match you said "What's happening" during the finish of this match. Now this has grown in legacy and is still debated about whether it was a work or a shoot but the only people who truly know are Vince, Bret & Shawn and they are playing it as a shoot and who am I to question that.
Kenny Omega in DDT
If you have not seen any of his stuff search them out on Youtube. Whether it's pulling off Zangriefs Ultra Combo on a blow up doll, wrestling in the sea or having a match with an 11 year old girl you can't help but question what you are watching. While those scenes sound weird, and they are weird the fact is that the fans in DDT love watching this weird stuff but their Japanese and in defence pretty much everyone else loved it as well.
Brian Pillman vs. Kevin Sullivan in a Strap match at Superbrawl 6
Let me set the picture. Kevin Sullivan is in the ring with a strap, Brian Pillman runs down and jumps on Sullivan. The two trade blows. Pillman then shoves the official and grabs a microphone, he yells "I Respect you, Bookerman" and leaves. The match didn't even last a minute and we all asked "What happened there?". Arn Anderson would go down and him & Sullivan tried to have a little match which didn't last long either.
This is one of the most infamous moments in wrestling history and was the launching pad to Pillman's Loose Cannon character. Even some wrestlers believe it was a shoot but Sullivan has said publicly that it was a work. Pillman was my first favourite wrestlers and is still one of my all time favourites and this match shows how great that character was. It got everyone asking questions and it remained that way for pretty much the rest of his career.
Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Taz at Living Dangerously 1998
The build to this match was simple. Taz was submitting everyone and was really the King of ECW. Bigelow came in as a veteran and established himself as the monster in ECW so this match was if Taz could stop this monster. This match was brutal and if you have the "Rise and Fall of ECW" DVD Taz actually does commentary and you get a good look into the match itself. Anyways near the end of the match Taz climbs on Bigelow's back and locks in the Taz Mission, the referee is behind them and cannot see Bigelow tapping out (very lightly), Bigelow throws himself backwards and the two go through the ring! The referee's reaction summed it up and he jumped back and threw his arms in shock. This was an incredible spot and one that ECW would show in it's opening videos for years. They tried to recreate the moment at Heatwave however it was through the ramp and seriously lacked the surprise as you had the feeling they would have to out do themselves. But back to the match. Nothing would happen for a good 30 seconds or so eventually Bam Bam would poke his head out and the crowd went nuts, he would then pull Taz out (who was legitimately out by the way) and quickly pinned him. What a way to beat a guy yet keep him strong, you have to throw him through the ring to beat him!
Pat Patterson vs. Gerald Brisco in a Hardcore Evening Gown Match at King of the Ring 2000
Did the title make you say what? These two Hall of Famers had to do a match in drag! The story of this match was that Brisco beat Crash Holly for the Hardcore title, he then went backstage and celebrated with Pat who was pouring champagne over his head. He would then smash the bottle over the his head and beat him for the title, this was when the 24/7 rule was in effect. On the next show Pat would hide in the women's locker room in drag aka dressed as a woman. Gerald would dress in drag and attack Pat, Vince McMahon saw this and made the match. I'm not going over this match but they used weird weapons, got stripped so show they were wearing bra & panties and ultimately Crash Holly would run in and win the title back. Just random and weird. Seriously when this match happened I asked myself, "What the hell did I just see?" and time has not changed that.
Hulk Hogan at Uncensored
The bulk of this blog will be on this subject. WCW's Uncensored PPV usually consisted of a few matches that made you question what you were watching, Harlem Heat vs. Nasty Boys in a Concession brawl comes to mind. But when it comes to Hogan he's had more weird moments at the event then anyone else. So lets look at them.
vs. Vader-Leather Strap in 1995: The match goes pretty normally until Ric Flair, dressed in drag, would get involved. During the course of the fighting the strap would come off Vader and Hulk would put it on Flair, he then proceeded to touch the four corners, which was needed to win. Bobby Heenan, who was on commentary, stated "He's doing it to the wrong guy he has to do that with Vader" but the match would end and Hogan won. I guess they did this to keep Vader strong but it still made no sense.
w/ Randy Savage vs. Alliance to End Hulkamania-Tower of Doom in 1996: What's the Alliance to End Hulkamania I hear you ask, well it was a group of 8 guys! It had some big names in that group as well including Lex Luger, Arn Anderson, Kevin Sullivan and Ric Flair. I can't remember everything that happened, it was a cluster bomb but it was a cage with several levels. Ultimately Hogan & Savage would beat the Alliance killing off 8 potential feuds in one match. I'm never a fan of handicap matches and I hate when things like this happen (I hated when DX would beat the Spirit Squad 2 vs. 5) and I really don't like the idea of 2 guys being able to beat 8! Especially when 2 of them had been World champions! But this is Hogan I'm surprised he didn't get Savage to turn on him and still beat them 9 on 1.
Team nWo vs. Team WCW vs. Team Piper-Elimination match in 1997: Surprisingly this was the match that made the most sense which involved Hogan at Uncensored. This was a Open the top rope battle royal which also involved pinfalls and submissions. The match would break down to the entire nWo team (which Hogan was in) and Lex Luger, Luger would eliminate Savage, Nash and Hall but would then lose to Hogan after getting spray painted in the FACE! My only complaint is that at the time they were building Luger to beat Hogan for the belt (for all of one week) so why not have him beat him here when Hogan's title wasn't on the line. Why? Because it's Hogan and he doesn't lose to anyone, well without serious bitching!
vs. Randy Savage-Steel Cage in 1998: Both men were in the NWO at the time but they were breaking up at the time, Savage had cost Hogan the title the month before. The match itself was going fine until Brutus Beefcake aka Hogan's Butt buddy, came into the ring. Hogan and Brutus faced off with Savage for seemingly forever until Sting came down from the rafters to help Savage. The face off continued for even longer until Savage clothesline Sting and left yelling "I don't like you and never will" to Hogan. None of that made sense. If Savage didn't want Sting's help he could of just left and let Sting attack Hogan without clotheslining him.
vs. Ric Flair-Barbed Wire Steel Cage First Blood match in 1999:
Sweet lord this was so confusing. The match was for the WCW title and Flair's career. Before the match it was announced that the only way to win was to make your opponent bleed. So the match started and pretty quickly Flair was busted open, not a little but a lot (shocking I know, who would of thought Flair would bleed). The match didn't end. Hogan got busted open, another shocker, it still didn't end. Hogan went for the pin and the referee told him he can't win by pinfall. So how would it end. Well eventually Arn Anderson threw in a tire iron which Flair used, behind the referee's back for some reason, locked on the Figure 4 and the ref counted 3! WHAT! I don't know what happened here but it was just confusing, if anyone knows the back story I would love to hear it.
vs. Ric Flair-Apple Pie Indian Strap match in 2000: First off I thought this was a "Yappa Pile Indian Strap Match" when Hogan cut that promo.I don't know what made that match a "Apple Pie" Strap match or why it was a Indian Strap but this was late WCW so who knows. So the match involves whipping each other, blood etc. etc. But it was the finish that got everyone asking questions, Hogan touched 3 corners he then hit a leg drop and pinned him, he then touched the 4th corner. So he basically didn't just want to beat Flair but overkill him. "Hey look not only could I win this match but I can pin him as well".
Summary: Hogan's a dick and I feel sorry for Flair. It was brought up on the LAW's Review-a-Wai podcast that Hogan was known for over doing backstage politics but you have to complain that Flair didn't play them enough and by looking at just this shows history you can see that's turn.
Well that's done. If you've given this a read thank you very much and let me know what you think. Do you agree, disagree or don't care? Let me know, always love talking wrestling.
Saturday 28 April 2012
Friday 6 April 2012
Let's Just Talk
The simple act of cutting a promo seems to be a dying art by the simple fact that everyone is scripted and end up cutting a promo as if they are trying to remember what was given to them. Sometimes I love just watching promos to me a promo can build a program more than an actual angle so in this blog I decided to share some of my favourite memories and promo cutters. I'm also going to attempt adding videos again, wish me luck! Seriously wish me luck.
Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin from Survivor Series 1996
No videos here as I can't find any that isn't the full match. Survivor Series 1996 was one of the first shows I got on tape and this match in particular stood out. The story was simply, Austin called out Bret as he wanted to beat the best. Bret was away from the WWE and when he returned he announced he wanted to face the best which was Austin. Simple and effective. And on the night the opening promo video was fantastic and then both got a chance to speak. Austin's promo was basically "You build Bret up as someone to be afraid off but I'm not." The best line was "A cliche's a cliche's and a Ass whipping is a Ass whipping". But it was Bret's that stood out to me, Bret has never been know for being a great talker but he was great here, "The one thing Steve Austin has going against him is that this is Madison Squared Garden and I meant it when I said it's not a church but it's Holy ground. Steve Austin you're going to learn that I'm not greedy for money, I'm greedy for respect and when all's said and done you will respect me". When you combined these promos with a fantastic match and you a very memoriable show!
Arn Anderson's Fall Brawl 95 Promo
I don't know the full story of the match but this was for Ric Flair vs. Arn Anderson, the two were part of the Legendary 4 Horsemen and looked at each other as legit brothers. I posted this in my groups a while back and the general view that everyone agreed with was that Arn was seriously underrated. He was a fantastic promo and this was a prime example of how good he was. Arn didn't bury Ric in this promo in fact all he did was explain why he felt that he had to win and put over just how important the match is overall. Simply a great promo that can teach others how they should cut a promo.
Tully Blanchards's Heroes of Wrestling Promo
Such a shame this promo was for such a awful show. Tully showed some serious anger which I'm guessing was legit after since he couldn't get back into WCW after he left WWE and WWE didn't keep him. This is another example of how Flair almost over shadowed every other horsemen. We all remember Flair as being a unbelievable promo guy but his team mates were probably one par with him. Enjoy this promo as it was the best thing on Heroes of Wrestling show unless you love a drunk Jake Roberts rubbing off a snake!
CM Punk
I could put his infamous promo from last year on here but I thought I'd share this forgotten gem. Punk is one of my favourite wrestlers and a bit of a idol to me (he's the P in my L.R.K.P tattoo and the K will also be mentioned later). Punk isn't only a great wrestler but probably one of the most consistent when it comes to his promo quality. His ROH promos were all great, his MLW promos were great and he's probably the best promo guy in WWE right now. I can't say enough how good I think Punk is and most people would agree with that opinion.
Jon Moxley
I feel that Moxley has a weird voice but that doesn't change the fact he knows the art of promos very well. Moxley has always come off as the second coming of the "Loose Cannon" and his promos are probably the key to that. The promo above sums up the Moxley character extremely well "Either I win the title or you put me out of my misery, either way I win!". I've only seen a little bit of his FCW stuff but it's still amazing and proves that when (not if) Jon get's called up to the WWE he will be ready and if they given him the mic he will make a great impact.
Steve Austin's ECW Promo
Do I really need to say anything! This promo is famous just because of how good it is. I don't even need to tell you the situation as Steve does it in the promo. I remember watching this on one of the many Steve Austin DVD sets and they included the camera turning to see everyone and Sandman yells "Wow! That was Fucking Awesome" and that sums up this promo really.
Dusty Rhodes Hard Times
I'm going to be honest I think Dusty was really overrated when it comes to his mic work. While I think his promos during his program with Flair, which this one was, were great. I found most of his promos made no sense and weren't that memoriable. I still think he was a good talker but he wasn't as great as people said he was. Anyways on to this promo and one of the reasons was because Dusty connected to the people by picking up on legit problems and relating that to his situation. Simple? Yes. Effective? Of course.
Ric Flair's Promo after Wrestlemania 8
This was one of the first Mania's I every watched, I borrowed it on video from the video store and I loved the Randy/Flair match. Even though I was young and didn't know much about wrestling I just loved that match. And this promo was so great. It really put over the situation and the image of Flair bloody but also a mix of calm and angry was awesome to see. This is the Flair you can't see today because he doesn't make sense today but this shows why Flair was as great as he was. On a different note if you have the time you should also check out Jake Robert's promo from the same Mania as it was great as well.
Eddie Kingston
The two promos above are two of my all time favourite promos ever. I love Eddie Kingston and his promos are probably a big factor in that. I love watching him work but I love to listen to him talk as much if not more. I could post so many promos from Chikara and if you're impressed with these please go on youtube and check out some of his other ones. I know the first promo pretty much word for word I've watched it so much as it just has a lasting impression, whether it was the words he was saying or the rain in the background it just sticks with me.
So there you go. There's a chance you will come on here, watch the promos and read the final paragraph and if you do it's fine. The purpose of this was to highlight some of my favourite promos and I hope you like them as well. If you do give this a read let me know what you think and thanks for reading.
Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin from Survivor Series 1996
No videos here as I can't find any that isn't the full match. Survivor Series 1996 was one of the first shows I got on tape and this match in particular stood out. The story was simply, Austin called out Bret as he wanted to beat the best. Bret was away from the WWE and when he returned he announced he wanted to face the best which was Austin. Simple and effective. And on the night the opening promo video was fantastic and then both got a chance to speak. Austin's promo was basically "You build Bret up as someone to be afraid off but I'm not." The best line was "A cliche's a cliche's and a Ass whipping is a Ass whipping". But it was Bret's that stood out to me, Bret has never been know for being a great talker but he was great here, "The one thing Steve Austin has going against him is that this is Madison Squared Garden and I meant it when I said it's not a church but it's Holy ground. Steve Austin you're going to learn that I'm not greedy for money, I'm greedy for respect and when all's said and done you will respect me". When you combined these promos with a fantastic match and you a very memoriable show!
Arn Anderson's Fall Brawl 95 Promo
I don't know the full story of the match but this was for Ric Flair vs. Arn Anderson, the two were part of the Legendary 4 Horsemen and looked at each other as legit brothers. I posted this in my groups a while back and the general view that everyone agreed with was that Arn was seriously underrated. He was a fantastic promo and this was a prime example of how good he was. Arn didn't bury Ric in this promo in fact all he did was explain why he felt that he had to win and put over just how important the match is overall. Simply a great promo that can teach others how they should cut a promo.
Tully Blanchards's Heroes of Wrestling Promo
Such a shame this promo was for such a awful show. Tully showed some serious anger which I'm guessing was legit after since he couldn't get back into WCW after he left WWE and WWE didn't keep him. This is another example of how Flair almost over shadowed every other horsemen. We all remember Flair as being a unbelievable promo guy but his team mates were probably one par with him. Enjoy this promo as it was the best thing on Heroes of Wrestling show unless you love a drunk Jake Roberts rubbing off a snake!
CM Punk
I could put his infamous promo from last year on here but I thought I'd share this forgotten gem. Punk is one of my favourite wrestlers and a bit of a idol to me (he's the P in my L.R.K.P tattoo and the K will also be mentioned later). Punk isn't only a great wrestler but probably one of the most consistent when it comes to his promo quality. His ROH promos were all great, his MLW promos were great and he's probably the best promo guy in WWE right now. I can't say enough how good I think Punk is and most people would agree with that opinion.
Jon Moxley
I feel that Moxley has a weird voice but that doesn't change the fact he knows the art of promos very well. Moxley has always come off as the second coming of the "Loose Cannon" and his promos are probably the key to that. The promo above sums up the Moxley character extremely well "Either I win the title or you put me out of my misery, either way I win!". I've only seen a little bit of his FCW stuff but it's still amazing and proves that when (not if) Jon get's called up to the WWE he will be ready and if they given him the mic he will make a great impact.
Steve Austin's ECW Promo
Do I really need to say anything! This promo is famous just because of how good it is. I don't even need to tell you the situation as Steve does it in the promo. I remember watching this on one of the many Steve Austin DVD sets and they included the camera turning to see everyone and Sandman yells "Wow! That was Fucking Awesome" and that sums up this promo really.
Dusty Rhodes Hard Times
I'm going to be honest I think Dusty was really overrated when it comes to his mic work. While I think his promos during his program with Flair, which this one was, were great. I found most of his promos made no sense and weren't that memoriable. I still think he was a good talker but he wasn't as great as people said he was. Anyways on to this promo and one of the reasons was because Dusty connected to the people by picking up on legit problems and relating that to his situation. Simple? Yes. Effective? Of course.
Ric Flair's Promo after Wrestlemania 8
This was one of the first Mania's I every watched, I borrowed it on video from the video store and I loved the Randy/Flair match. Even though I was young and didn't know much about wrestling I just loved that match. And this promo was so great. It really put over the situation and the image of Flair bloody but also a mix of calm and angry was awesome to see. This is the Flair you can't see today because he doesn't make sense today but this shows why Flair was as great as he was. On a different note if you have the time you should also check out Jake Robert's promo from the same Mania as it was great as well.
Eddie Kingston
The two promos above are two of my all time favourite promos ever. I love Eddie Kingston and his promos are probably a big factor in that. I love watching him work but I love to listen to him talk as much if not more. I could post so many promos from Chikara and if you're impressed with these please go on youtube and check out some of his other ones. I know the first promo pretty much word for word I've watched it so much as it just has a lasting impression, whether it was the words he was saying or the rain in the background it just sticks with me.
So there you go. There's a chance you will come on here, watch the promos and read the final paragraph and if you do it's fine. The purpose of this was to highlight some of my favourite promos and I hope you like them as well. If you do give this a read let me know what you think and thanks for reading.
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