Did Jamal/Umaga have any standout matches in All Japan? His absence from Ditch's Best of 2000s list suggests the answer, but I'd like to think there were a few from that time that are worth checking out.

I was just thinking, with the overall staleness of the wrestling landscape, would the time be right for a more ECW-like indie with an emphasis on angles and characters over workrate to get over big?

Did you mean to say Memphis???

I just want everyone to know how great The Assassin was as a character:

 

 

Fucking phenomenal.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXA3_PeHL9w

 

"You know I've got nicknames for my hands. This is Cannibal and this is Animal. And you know what they tell me every day? They tell me that they're hungry. And I tell them 'be patient ... because I'm going to feed you. And what I'm going to feed you is a banquet. A banquet of Jimmy Valiant's FACE! His eyes, his nose, his lips'. These hands are going to be twice their size by the time this taped-fist match is over Valiant, because they are going to GORGE themselves, GORGE themselves on your face and on your flesh. I've NEVER hated a man like I hate you Valiant. And you better believe, Valiant, that when I put you down you ain't never and I mean never going to get up again."

 

He was a fucking metaphysical poet. Paul Jones just standing there dreaming of ever being able to cut a promo of that quality.

 

 

This is the one we marked out over on Titans.

 

 

Never knew Jimmy Hart worked Georgia. Assassin is so cool. "I specialize in various forms of pain". Awesome.

Ugh, seeing things like an Assassin promo makes me hate that scripted crap that much more.

So the other day it was in the daily WON update that it was the anniversary of Bockwinkel's first AWA title win in 1975 over Verne. I've never seen that one before, and I figured if anyone would know where to find it, it would be someone from here.

Doesn't exist

I just want everyone to know how great The Assassin was as a character:

 

He also did some really cool stuff in Southeastern/Continental where he worked as The Flame including this gem:

 

Watched the 1989 Survivor Series tonight.

 

1. Why was the Hulk Hogan match in the midcard?

2. Why did Bobby Heenan substitute for Tully Blanchard in the main event?

 

I assume it wasn't just the kayfabe "there's problems in the Heenan family!" Did Blanchard leave, miss a flight or something?

Wasn't that when Tully was fired by WWF over cocaine or something?

Watched the 1989 Survivor Series tonight.

 

1. Why was the Hulk Hogan match in the midcard?

2. Why did Bobby Heenan substitute for Tully Blanchard in the main event?

 

I assume it wasn't just the kayfabe "there's problems in the Heenan family!" Did Blanchard leave, miss a flight or something?

My favourite show ever and I actually just recorded a podcast about it yesterday.

 

1) Hogan was in the midcard, so they could do the angle with Zeus to sell you on No Holds Barred: The Match, The Movie. Also, Warrior was hella over so giving him and Andre the main event made sense to test him.

 

2) Tully was fired for failing a drug test.

 

Also note, that Akeem was replaced by Bad News Brown due to injury and Barry Windham was replaced by Earthquake due to Windham leaving to deal with his family counterfeit issues.

 

By the way, that main event of The Ultimate Warriors against The Heenan Family is one of my favourite matches ever!

yep, supposedly tully was fired for failing a drug test. i always figured the original plan was to keep the tag titles on arn/tully and have demolition beat them at mania

 

as for the hogan match, didn't they often put his match on before most kids went to bed? that was definitely a thing at house shows, so i could see it on PPV as well

 

EDIT: or just see grimmas' post!

Did Jamal/Umaga have any standout matches in All Japan? His absence from Ditch's Best of 2000s list suggests the answer, but I'd like to think there were a few from that time that are worth checking out.

I liked his match vs. Kawada from June 2004.

 

Did Jamal/Umaga have any standout matches in All Japan? His absence from Ditch's Best of 2000s list suggests the answer, but I'd like to think there were a few from that time that are worth checking out.

I liked his match vs. Kawada from June 2004.

 

 

Thanks, will definitely give that a look.

yep, supposedly tully was fired for failing a drug test. i always figured the original plan was to keep the tag titles on arn/tully and have demolition beat them at mania

 

as for the hogan match, didn't they often put his match on before most kids went to bed? that was definitely a thing at house shows, so i could see it on PPV as well

 

EDIT: or just see grimmas' post!

 

 

 

I think the BrainBusters were on their way out, since failing that drug test was the excuse used by NWA/WCW to pull the offer they made to Tully.

Going to see the Regal spoken word show tonight. Should be a fun time

I was defending Ryback against someone who called him a Golberg clone tonight and I mentioned how he should have beaten CM Punk for the title at HIAC. I said that it would have helped Ryback obviously, but even CM Punk would have benefited. It would have been a big moment to end his "historic" reign instead of a foregone conclusion match with The Rock. It would have given him the credit for making a new star if Ryback had taken off or at least he would have gotten credit for the attempt if a big Ryback push didn't pan out. I think it would have helped Punk's legacy, especially when you consider how he departed.

.

 

By the way, that main event of The Ultimate Warriors against The Heenan Family is one of my favourite matches ever!

The spinebuster Arn gives Michaels is, IMO, the most beautifully executed move in the history of wrestling

I don't know the exact date Tully was fired over the coke test, but I'm 99% certain the Brain Busters were on their way out of the WWF because they'd already shot an angle while Tully was still there to set them up as splitting from the Heenan Family/being fired, which aired on the Survivor Series Showdown (after Tully was canned) where Tully worked against Ultimate Warrior.

I was always under the impression the NWA had made them an offer to reunite the Horsemen with Flair and Ole, then Tully failed his test and WCW wanted nothing to do with him, and subsequently lowballed Arn since he was less valuable as a singles, and knew the WWF would have no interest in him as a singles either. Basically, Tully's drug habit it seemed managed to blackball him from the business (for the most part), fuck up WCW booking plans, and cost Arn a chunk of change, all in one fell swoop.

I also seem to recall another WCW management change between when Arn/Tull agreed on their deal and when they were supposed to start. The new regime wanted to cut costs and used the test failure as an excuse to pull the offers the prior crew offered.

 

.

 

By the way, that main event of The Ultimate Warriors against The Heenan Family is one of my favourite matches ever!

The spinebuster Arn gives Michaels is, IMO, the most beautifully executed move in the history of wrestling

 

Where's a good gif when you need it?

I'm watching the UK vhs release of SuperBrawl 2. It's bad enough that they butcher Liger v Pillman, but then a Terry Taylor interview plays for Bagwell v Taylor...which isn't on the tape.

 

Brilliant!

Chad and I went through the Meltzers of that time period and Tully wasn't exactly blackballed from WCW, they just couldn't reach a deal with him. They negotiate for weeks and then they break down and it goes nowhere and that's it. It's weird the way that plays out. But essentially WCW can't reach a price that Tully will accept.

 

I seem to recall that Arn and Tully weren't happy with their push in WWF or something, and were on their way out anyway. Tully failing the drug test sped things up for him.

 

By late 1990, Tully has gone over to being a born-again Christian doing sermons on the church circuit.

 

I think they do try to bring Tully back in another time as well but can't reach a deal again. He randomly shows up in AWA at some point too.

A humble request (which I didn't feel was worthy of a PM or a thread) - In The Microscope, can we get a picture of each wrestler in the OP of each thread? I know a Google search is very easy but sometimes I can't remember who someone is by name alone. I.E. Jack Brisco. Something small & trivial that can save some time in the future though, maybe?

Chad and I went through the Meltzers of that time period and Tully wasn't exactly blackballed from WCW, they just couldn't reach a deal with him. They negotiate for weeks and then they break down and it goes nowhere and that's it. It's weird the way that plays out. But essentially WCW can't reach a price that Tully will accept.

 

I seem to recall that Arn and Tully weren't happy with their push in WWF or something, and were on their way out anyway. Tully failing the drug test sped things up for him.

 

By late 1990, Tully has gone over to being a born-again Christian doing sermons on the church circuit.

 

I think they do try to bring Tully back in another time as well but can't reach a deal again. He randomly shows up in AWA at some point too.

 

 

He also showed up in ECW for a match or two as well if I remember correctly.

 

Tully wasn't blackballed, WCW just didn't want to pay him what he felt he was worth after he failed the test since they were in one of those "pay everyone as little as possible" time periods. Somewhere along the way Tully found Jesus and off he went.

Chad and I went through the Meltzers of that time period and Tully wasn't exactly blackballed from WCW, they just couldn't reach a deal with him. They negotiate for weeks and then they break down and it goes nowhere and that's it. It's weird the way that plays out. But essentially WCW can't reach a price that Tully will accept.I seem to recall that Arn and Tully weren't happy with their push in WWF or something, and were on their way out anyway. Tully failing the drug test sped things up for him.By late 1990, Tully has gone over to being a born-again Christian doing sermons on the church circuit.I think they do try to bring Tully back in another time as well but can't reach a deal again. He randomly shows up in AWA at some point too.

I thought this was 93 before Slamboree when this happened, which is why they brought in Roma.

 

I'd always heard WCW claiming they were bringing them in as a "team" and once Tullys drug results were released, Herd balked and lowballed Arn, claiming since they aren't coming in as a team...