Ricky Jackson

Any early reviews of Backlund vs Koloff from 4/83?

I'm not a fan of the finish (see also Backlund vs Valentine from 3/79 MSG) but the idea is that back then the ref slapping the back of the winner after the count was common, so it "makes sense" that a wrestler could be fooled into thinking the 3 count had been made. Again, I don't like it as a finish either, but I at least get the psychology

I often look at PWO as grad school for my wrestling fandom. I randomly stumbled upon this board around 11 years ago and remember thinking within a few days that I had found a special place. One with not only like-minded (i.e. territory era) fans, but like-minded fans interested in reexamining sacred truths and pimping wrestlers and matches that were often overlooked. By 2010 I was down to mostly watching 70s and 80s wrestling and reading a bunch of history books and Meltzer bios. I thought I was the only one LOL. Fuck, was I wrong. Finding a place with a bunch of old school geeks like me kicked my fandom into another level. I learned a ton about wrestling history from a lot of posters here. I became friends with a lot of posters here, mostly through the podcasting craze that exploded around 2012/13. Yeah, things have changed, tastes have changed, and posters have come and gone. I'm pretty much done with podcasting and rarely watch wrestling or read histories anymore. Big time burnout last year, but don't worry, I just focused my geek energy on something different, as those following the comics thread know. Im not sure if I ever got my PhD, but I still hang out on campus everyday. I like the people here. Long live PWO

I know things are really really really bad creatively, but surely they can come up with something better than that

Feb 89 was the last televised Spectrum show. Graham was there the whole way, and in a cool touch, Kal joined him for 3 or so matches on the final card

Yeah, Gorilla and Mean Gene are a crazy underrated team. A lot of folks dont like them because it was two babyface announcers but I love the pairing. Helps they were commentating those 84-85 MSG shows that were full of hot matches and with a buzz in the air because of the rise of Rock N' Wrestling and sudden mainstream attention. Damn, I knew I should've created a thread for Kal

I've got my eyes on that one and will probably pick it up or get it for Kindle soonish

Cool info. Wasn't aware of Kal's role regarding the music side of things for WWF but it makes total sense

Yeah, he was well known in Philly at the time through radio, but he was also a genuine fan of wrestling. During his run on commentary (80-82) Philly was pretty much Gorilla's town to run, but the timing of Kal's departure from the booth does coincide with Vince Jr buying the territory, so who knows. Kal did stay on as a backstage interviewer for several years though

For anyone patient enough to wade through the often extremely poor video quality and equally poor wrestling of early 80s WWF Philly Spectrum shows, one of the true gems was the insane color commentary of Kal Rudman. He passed away yesterday at 91. On commentary, he had no filter and was totally unpredictable; full of praise for what he loved and unafraid to call out what he didnt. RIP

Yeah, I've come across some late 80s Giffen art here and there recently and it really is not good. I find it puzzling it has ever been considered good, really. As for me, I'm still chugging along with various different things. 70s FF, firmly in its "mommy and daddy are living in different houses" period, with Medusa replacing Sue, is often fun (love the awesome Thundra arriving on the scene looking to kick Ben's ass) but also often quite mediocre. I'm now around issue 54 with Tomb of Dracula and the title is finally showing signs of Wolfman maybe running out of steam (the same thing would happen to him years later when New Teen Titans also passed #50). Oh well, he had a good 40 or so quality issues, and the art is still great if nothing else. I'm still trying to get though 70s Kirby but things are a bit slow going lately. Planning on finishing Eternals and then finally tackling Kamandi. What's really interested me lately is reading 1960s Archie and, especially, diving back into one of my all-time faves, the classic Dick Tracy comic strip. I'm jumping around right now, mostly reading strips from the 30s and 40s I hadn't read before. Plan to eventually tackle the late 50s-early 60s period I've only read bits of in the past. My read next "pile" keeps growing, and I have ton of stuff on deck for 2022

We claim it as a Canadian invention, from a Toronto pizza place in the 60s. I've always liked it

Yeah, it seems totally pointless to waste a months-long worked shoot build for a non-title match on a unimportant ppv, but this is 2021 WWE after all

Totally agree with @Matt D, it's just everything, all the bullshit, all together, that is just such a complete turn off. Like, so bad I don't see how I'll ever want to watch again bad. I was pretty done with WWE after NXT stopped being fun around the summer of 19 anyway, but the last two years seem to have been a bunch of nothing, even factoring in the pandemic crowd restrictions. I'm actively rooting for failure

They mostly get a pass because it's wrestling and most people see it as garbage not worth wasting a second of thought about. But fortunately for Vince and co., TV companies with a ton of $ to throw around love them

I think the most serious Hogan vs Tyson discussions happened in 1989. Don King wouldn't sign off on a match afaik

Ray Rougeau the latest former wrestler to be elected to office, as mayor of a town in Quebec https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-the-wednesday-edition-1.6244300/how-pro-wrestling-prepared-raymond-rougeau-to-be-a-quebec-town-mayor-1.6244302

Pain and Passion is an all-time great territory history book, and I'm not just saying that because I grew up in Calgary

Oh, I love old man Bruno too. It's just that the man himself didn't have the highest opinion of his output as it was happening. I get it, he was a lot older than the other wrestlers and felt a bit silly still going out there in trunks pretending to fight dudes

By his own admission, Bruno thought his mid 80s run was embarrassing by his high standards and he felt he wasn't giving the fans a quality performance. He really only worked because he was asked time and again to pop a house and he didnt want David to take any heat by association if he refused. Although he probably would've looked great for his age at 76-77 for a one off spot, his pride would've never allowed it to happen

As far as Bruno's speed in the ring goes, I watched this match recently and was struck by how fast he moved. This was 1987, Bruno was around 51 and would only have a handful of matches left. Watching a bunch of WWF from around this time, Bruno was arguably as quick as anyone in the territory. Faint praise perhaps considering some of the wrestlers in WWF at the time, but point is the guy could flat out go and wasn't just someone coasting on his popularity and relying on smoke and mirrors

And Angelo Mosca makes three for the day. I won't speak ill of the dead, as far as his wrestling talents go anyway. All time legend in Canadian pro football

That one bugged me so much when it happened, and I was only 10 years old! Also Hogan and Orndorff on the same team in the main event. Sometimes I think this company maybe doesn't respect the intelligence of its fans

Bobby Davis really is one of the great forgotten wrestling personalities of the 20th century

Did Danielson and Miro ever wrestle in WWE?