Ricky Jackson

I think the plan (if one even existed) was Patera would beat Backlund and have a run as champ until Vince Sr had a new babyface ready to headline, who would beat Patera, not for Patera to turn face at any point. Not to get all Marvel Comics "What If" here, but I think it is interesting to speculate who Vince Sr would have groomed for this hypothetical new headline babyface with Backlund out of the picture. I wonder if, given the right deal, Rhodes would have worked New York full time at this point, because he was certainly over enough to be a long-term headliner. And Tommy Rich as a pretty boy southern heel in New York would have been pretty awesome.

I don't think the length of Backlund's reign was set in stone. What if he had bombed on top? I think another Meltzer story (from the issue he did years back on WWE history from 74-83 IIRC) is that Patera was ready as a back-up plan if Backlund failed to draw. Maybe Dylan has better info on that one.

Meltzer and Graham's story (accepted fact?) is Vince Sr had the exact day of the Backlund title win (Feb 20, 78) set by around Oct 76 or so, after Bruno "gave his notice".

I've seen the footage of Luger and Brody in the cage, and I don't see how there was any "misunderstanding", at least on Brody's part. Brody clearly stops selling for Lex about five minutes in, Luger continues to pound away for what seems like an eternity with Brody just staring at him stone faced, the crowd begins to sense something weird is going on, and then Luger finally leaves the cage out of sheer frustration. Brody didn't sit on the turnbuckle and Lex didn't really "freak out". Obviously Brody wanted to screw with Lex and whoever was running the Florida show, but I have no clue whether it was premeditated or not.

And what has Lesnar done this year exactly? Dave might as well have put Randy Savage on the ballot.

To be fair, Ted's two Mania losses did little to hurt him, and they helped put over the victors in a meaningful way. He lost a match to Savage he should have (kayfabe) won, and the win made Savage a top guy and started the Megapowers angle. And it would have really made no sense or helped anyone for him to beat Virgil in their first match against each other, as Virgil needed as much credibility as a wrestler as he could get at that point.

Sounds interesting. What's the story exactly? From the 03-06-2001 Wrestling Observer Live. You to listen to Dave to tell the story: http://www.sendspace.com/file/s33bjd I dont have a time mark. Somehow, Dave plotting a revenge angle and feuding with his ex-girlfriend doesn't surprise me at all.

Booking a wrestler to lose a bunch of matches and then suddenly announcing them as "number 1 contender" for no reason, like Morrison and Punk recently, has always been a pet peeve of mine. I'm not super anal about, nor am I going to embrace Evolve anytime soon, but I do wish winning and losing mattered a little bit more than it does in WWE. But yeah, I guess most fans don't give a shit about stuff like that, and it's not like the WWE has had much of a track record in that regard since the early 90s.

Sounds interesting. What's the story exactly?

Here's something I had never seen before tonight: Tito Santana recieves NEW Intercontinental Title Belt And for those interested, here's a link to Tito's official YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/hoftitosantana

Man, I totally forgot about this. I do remember watching it. I guess I saw it when the tape was first released and never again. "Please don't hurt my Teddy Bear! Please don't hurt my Teddy Bear!" I I've always loved how Tito added the figure-four to his arsenal during his feud with Valentine and kept using it over the years, long after the feud was over. Nice attention to detail. Razor vs. Backlund is arguably the most random pairing in Mania history, even during an era when the undercards were full of random pairings.

I'm pretty sure Money Inc. had been formed and had at least one match in the can ready for TV when the sudden title win over LOD happened. That is, they weren't just thrown together at the last second and had their first match together the night of the change, even though it sure seemed that way at the time. I think the DiBiase-Tito feud was meant to be short-term thing, almost something just to keep Ted busy until Vince or whoever came up with a better idea for him. But who knows. The only Ted-Tito singles match I could find online was from November 15, 1988, a Prime Time taping. I'm going to watch it later.

I'm a big fan of Valentine from this period and have been intrigued about this match since I first noticed it in the results. Looking at Cawthon's site, I get the feeling this was one of the untelevised MSG cards as none of the matches listed have ever been included on any comp tapes or DVDs. Too bad, because there was also a Texas Death match between Backlund and Adonis on the show (my least favorite ref, Putski, officiated both matches).

Too bad he's been jobbed almost beyond repair. I guess he's still over, but God they have done little to make him seem like a star lately IMO. I know he's got a big match coming up Tuesday. Not a bold prediction or anything, but my gut says his future is as a heel.

Yeah, Tito is almost the dictionary definition of a solid, hard-working, mid-card babyface. I'm not sure where he could have headlined long-term during his prime, other than one of the struggling territories. Maybe in the Martel role in AWA? I guess you could argue that with the right push at the right time he may have caught on as a main eventer, but I'm more than fine with the career he had, even though it kind of came to an abrupt end on the big stage.

Here's a brief taste of some AWA Tito. The Team Eventually Known as Strike Force vs The High Flyers, from St. Paul, 1982. Based on what is shown, the full match was likely awesome. Tito takes a great flying bump over the top rope. And it's funny how during the wrap around bits Greg Gagne speaks of himself in the third person for some reason. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CPB-9RVkSE...nel_video_title

I LOVED heel Doink at the time. I even had a poster of him on my bedroom wall, next to Bret Hart and Bob Backlund (the first wrestler I liked ironically). And I was 15. Anyway, one of the great heels of that era IMO, with the creepy music, mysterious side, and also a pretty good wrestler to boot. I even loved the multiple Doinks and remember discussing the rumours of which wrestlers they were with my friends. His involvement in the famous Summerslam match with Hart and Lawler was also awesome. I was pretty pissed when they turned him face, as they had barely scratched the surface of his potential as a heel. I'm sure the poster came down pretty soon after. I knew the smart crowd hated face Doink, but I didn't know they also shit on heel Doink. If I was 20-25 years old in 1992 I probably would have shit on him as well, sadly enough. I think I may have to start a Matt Borne as Doink tribute thread.

I need to get around to watching this someday. Saying it is better than their Mania 8 match is pretty high praise. I watched the Bash at the Beach Lifeguard/Lumberjack match between these two for the first time about a month ago, and it was sure underwhelming. Basically, it only served to remind me how much I despised 90s Jim Duggan.

For your viewing pleasure, the closest (kayfabe wise) Tito ever came to being WWF champ: "Tito is Neato, The Sheik is a Freak" Edit: Tito also wrestled Flair for the title 9/24/92 in Stuttgart, Germany.

I know it was filmed and put on video. I just wondered why it wasn't put on TV at the time. And yes, a reluctance to televise too many title changes probably has something do with it.

Obviously I'm saving that one for my Strike Force tribute.

I think the story was that Jake trained both of them or something, which I have no idea is true or not. Wasn't Jake, you know, too busy wrestling 300 days a year to have trained anybody during that time? And I'm not sure if it was building to something or just typical WCW shoot stuff. Not sure if it has been mentioned yet, but Jake as the Higher Power in 1999 was a pretty prevalent rumour.

A few random bits and stuff... An atypical look for Tito in this picture, looking almost like a cocky heel. Does anyone know if he had a heel run at some point somewhere? Otherwise, I guess he's one of the few guys who were faces their entire careers. Until doing some modest research (read:wikipedia), I didn't know Tito was trained by the same man (Hiro Matsuda) and debuted in the same year for the same territory (1977, Florida) as Hogan. I forgot he wrote a book, Tito Santana's Tales from the Ring, released in 2008. Has anyone read it? The reviewers on Amazon complain about its lack of depth and factual errors. Appearance wise, Tito's website leaves something to be desired to say the least http://www.titosantana.net/ It does contain a career record book, though, which I'll have to explore at some point.

All the recent talk about Tito surrounding his alleged consideration for the WWF title in 1992 has been fun and has inspired me to create this thread. During the early years of my wrestling fandom (circa 86-89) there were a few wrestlers I really gravitated towards, like Steamboat, Owen Hart, and the Bulldogs. However, the wrestler I considered my absolute favorite during those formative years was the man billed from Tocula, Mexico--Tito Santana. I'm not exactly sure why I embraced Tito like I did, but his passion and emotion in the ring likely had something to do with it. So to begin, in honour of the man, and also as a romantic ode to my youth, I give you this photographic tribute. Please feel free to contribute to this thread with matches, interviews, stories, results, etc. This thread is not intended to be a HOF pimp job, and I don't have the patience to seriously delve into Tito's career record like Dylan has so impressively done with Rose and Patera. Tito Santana: A career in pictures *First, I suggest playing this song in the background in order to capture the mood "¡Arriba!"

That could be another case of Vince bullshitting Bret, because I don't see how Flair had the power at that point (or ever) to make sure a demand like that was fulfilled.