Last year, I did reviews of the first six WrestleMania events as part of WrestleMania week. I complained a lot after that week about how bad WrestleMania V was. This year, I’m picking up where I left off, with WrestleMania VII – and the best part about it is, I don’t have to buy the individual events, I can just pull them up on the WWE Network! So, without further adieu, I review WrestleMania VII – Superstars and Stripes Forever!
As the title suggests, this is a look-back at wrestling past, and the era in which all of us here grew up with somewhere along the line. In tonight’s episode, we look back at 19th May 1997 edition of WWF RAW IS WAR from Mobile, Alabama, as we start.. Getting Down With The Classics
What is going on Wrestling fans? This time around Im going with a match that is both unique and special in the history of pro wrestling for 2 reasons. For starters its a WWF title match taking place in Calgary, but its in an official Stampede Wrestling ring featuring one of Stampedes most popular wrestlers of all time. Thats pretty unique. Also, its the celebration of Stu Harts 80 Birthday, and as a consequence, wrestlers from around the world came to the event to both preform and also wish the legend a Happy 80th. This time around we will be enjoying Razor( Scott Hall) VS Owen Hart, for the intercontinental WWF championship. And this joint Stampede/WWF match is called of course by the legendary Ed Whalen, the voice of Stampede Wrestling for many decades. Worth noting at the beginning of the video Owen has a quick segment talking about his father, which is a very nice touch. Owen was playing the role of a heel at the time in the WWF. However, when in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, its pretty hard to have the crowd hate any former Stampede Wrestler as Vince McMahon would soon learn and capatialze on in the future with his Hart Foundation story-line. Also worth noting while watching the video is the top ring rope coming off and being quickly turned into a weapon. You will then notice a quick exit from the ring to draw the attention away from the rope being put back on. Finally worth noting is the “run in” by one of my least favorite wrestlers of all time. Here is a hint as to who he is ” I made a porn Movie with a Man/Woman and lived to tell about it”. Also, if these videos are getting your old school classic wrestling interests up, feel free to download our Stampede podcast .G and myself discuss all things Stampede wrestling including our run ins with the likes of Davey Boy Smith, Bad News Brown, Chris Benoit and Bret Hart when we were just kids! http://wonderpodonline.com/?p=2533 See you all next time !
Welcome back to another trip down Stampede Wrestling’ memory lane. This week I have a match specially picked out for Halloween viewing! First up its a young “Flying Brian Pillman”, who at this point in his career had only recently started training in the famous “dungeon” of the Hart family. Pillman would, of course, go on to the ECW and he would also later become tag champions with Steve Austin. Perhaps his biggest claim to fame was his WWF run as part of the Hart Foundation. Brian Pillman gained international success everywhere he went. Unfortunately, like so many other Stampede trained wrestlers, he was taken from this earth well before his time. His opponent was Jason The Terrible, a “supernatural” wrestling heel who’s character was based on the frightening Friday the 13th movie monster of the same name. Although intended to be an unstoppable heel, Jason would ironically become a very popular face in the Stampede promotion. No matter how hard promoters wanted this character to be an “evil heel” that the fans would fear and boo when he was in the ring, Jason quickly became a fan favorite. In fact, the crowd soon started to love his horror character and bring in hockey masks of their own to show Jason! Fans started to cheer for the monster more than they did the faces that he wrestled against. In other words, Jason The Terrible would become one of the first true “anti-heros” in the business and as Bruce Hart put it “was well on his way to wrestling stardom”. Jason even became tag partners with one of the terratories biggest faces of all time, Owen Hart. Unfortunately, the original Jason The Terrible was involved in a car accident which injured the man behind the mask and put an end to his career. After the original Jason was forced to stop competing in Stampede, there have been other men who wrestled behind the Jason Mask in other territories, but it is THIS Jason that I will always be fond of. Have a fun Halloween wrestling fans, and dont forget to check out www.wonderpodonline.com for more Patman picks and also wonderpod video game podcast episode 86 !
Its that time again people, its time for some classic wrestling action. Welcome to another journey back in time as we explore Stampede Wrestlings great historic past. This time around lets watch a very good match between 2 former wrestlers from the Calgary promotion who were actually WWF employees at the time battling it out for the world tag team titles on the biggest stage of them all. However, in between their feud in the WWF, both men took time to return to their roots and lace up the boots in a Stampede Wrestling ring once again. Those 2 men were one half of the Hart foundation, Bret Hart, and his brother in law Davey Boy Smith who was of course one half of the British Bulldogs. Bret played the “Heel” in this classic encounter as Davey boy played the “Face” but lets face it, the crowd in Calgary loved both of these alumni. Worth noting is the appearance of the Dynamite Kid near the end of the video and of course and as always the classic commentary of Ed Whalen. Enjoy this great match and I will see you on the next episode of PatMan picks next time!
Once again G has invaded your regularly scheduled PatMan Picks Saturday throw back to the Stampede Wrestling article. Yep, and once again I am here to screw it up by referencing a promotion that is not the one from Calgary. This week, we go way back to 1994 and the fallout from WrestleMania X. (more…)
I loved watching tag team wrestling as a kid as there were some amazing and entertaining tag teams in many territories. Teams like the Road Warriors, Can Am connection, Killer Bees, Nikolai Volkoff & The Iron Sheik and the Hart Foundation top my list of top tag teams from the past. However one tag team sits above them all, even the mighty Road Warriors, as my personal all time favorite team. That team is the British Bulldogs. By the time the British Bulldogs reached the WWF they had already competed along side and often against each other many times in classic Stamped Wrestlings encounters. While their popularity (and bodies) grew bigger and bigger in the WWF, I already had a strong admiration for them and knew just how talented they were. After an exciting title run in the WWF only to lose the titles ironically to yet another Stampede Wrestling alumni tag team by the name of the The Hart Foundation, Davey Boy and Dynamite soon went to Japan for a successful tour of the orient and finally returned, full circle, back to Stampede Wrestling. By this time the combination of steroid abuse and brutal back injuries were really taking a lot out of the Dynamite Kid both inside and outside the ring. The British Bulldogs days as a team were numbered. Davey Boy would soon embark on a successful singles career returning to the WWF, WCW and even back in Stampede upon occasion. Lets look at one of the last matches for this legendary tag team as they compete for the Stampede Tag Team belts held by the evil and chronically cheating Cuban Commandos! Its a ring-a-ding-dong-dandy! See you next week,. But,in the mean time and in between time, check out Wonderpod videogame podcast on itunes and also some of the other stuff I do over at www.wonderpodonline.com !
Welcome once again to another column, brought to you by Yours Truly. This week, I have hidden a secret word. See, if you can find it.
WWE
The Bash has been and gone. Results have been posted by whomever it was that reviewed it. So there’s no need for me to comment on it.
However, there was some kind of trade that happened, sending the likes of Matt Sydal and Dusty Rhodes to RAW, William Regal to ECW and the Hart Foundation 3.0 to SmackDown! Will this make any difference to the amount of wrestling on TV? No. Will it make a difference as to how many In Your House Pay-Per-Views I watch on DVD? Oh hell yeah!
I recently picked up the WWE Encyclopedia. They say it includes everyone, it even has Chris Benoit mentioned with a big picture of him and all. I heard they had to keep him away from the pillows, but at least he’s in there. Matt Morgan, Chris Kanyon, Sean O’Haire and Nathan Jones did not make the book. They all competed in WWE, where is their mentioning? Kanyon won tag team gold, and was U.S. Champion, and he didnt make the book!
Just Joe made the book. Remember him? The weekly jobber for Heat? He made it. Kronik, the group which lasted less than a month in WWE, they made it. Remember Pez Whatley? Phantasio? PJ Walker? They all made it. Theodore Long made it, and yet Sean Mooney nor Todd Pettingill didnt. It’s a good encyclopedia, but it would be even better if they included everyone.
TNA
It seems the nWo Wolfpacnew World order Main Event Mafia will hold every TNA Title after Victory Road. I knew it was coming, it had to. It looks like Kurt Angle will be TNA Champ, Samoa Joe as Legends Champ and Booker T and Scott Steiner as Tag Team Champions.
What happened to Eric Young’s heel turn? He’s stuck wrestling Jesse Neal. Who the hell is Jesse Neal?
Well, thats it, I know it seems a bit short, but i’m now writing two columns on the same night, and this is the second of the two. Besides, I have a Randy Savage DVD to watch.
Well after a long week if doing what it is I do during the week, I like nothing more than to tell you all my views on things. I wont keep you waiting any longer so here we go: (more…)
