In honor of February…
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This is it! BoredWrestlingFan’s WrestleMania week is in full swing, which kicked off with the WrestleMania 29 prediction podcast. My contribution to WrestleMania week this year will be reviews of the first six WrestleMania events, starting yesterday with 1985′s WrestleMania, and finishing up Saturday with a review of WrestleMania VI. And don’t forget to tune in to BoredWrestlingFan Radio this Sunday at 2PM Eastern as I will be reporting LIVE from Met Life Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ, the site of WrestleMania XXIX!
Wow. WrestleMania 2. I often say that the first thing I ever remember seeing in professional wrestling was a promo that Hulk Hogan cut prior to this show, talking about how he’s going to get that big dude (King Kong Bundy) in a cage at WrestleMania. I don’t remember anything else between that time and WrestleMania V, but when I finally started following pro wrestling religiously, my uncle handed down some old WWF Magazines, one of which was a recap of this particular show. I have seen the show before, but that was decades ago, and I was just a kid back then, so this will be another great experience for me on this year’s proverbial Road to WrestleMania.
Well, I have a better idea today than I did when I started yesterday about how I’m going to cover this show. It’ll be mostly straightforward, unless I see a blatant opportunity for some wildly outlandish thing a la G’s SmackDown reviews. Let’s go!
Twenty years ago today, on February 25th, 1992, Gene Kiniski’s final appearance in the ring occurred in Winnipeg, Canada for the West Four Wrestling Alliance (WFWA) promotion. Kiniski would perform in four matches on the card. The fourth, and final bout, was a three man tag team match with Kiniski’s partners being a young Chris Jericho and Lance Storm. Their opponents were “Bulldog” Bob Brown, “Champagne” Gerry Morrow, and The Natural. “The Natural” went on to be known as Don Callis (a.k.a. The Jackel and Cyrus).
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I bet you thinking the other kind of hash weren’t you? However, that symbol. You can find it on a phone to the right of the 0, and yet it is the one symbol that could destroy the foundations on which we stand. The one symbol that could do more damage than Eric Bischoff’s WCW ever could. The one symbol, that means more than the sign of the Wolfpac, the middle finger, and whatever it was Jimmy Snuka used to do combined. But how can a simple number sign be so powerful and deadly?
Its time again for more retro wrestling favorites from Calgary, Alberta, Canada! A few weeks ago I featured a 6 man tag team match featuring the British Bulldogs & Don Moraco. This time, we will take a look at a great match that took place only a few weeks prior to that event. The Stampede International Tag Team champions, the Cuban Commandos, had been fighting off the title hungry British Bulldogs for about a month, doing what ever it took to remain champions.This involved cheating, getting counted out , using foreign objects and being disqualified on numerous occasions. These matches drove the crowd absolutely nuts every time as Stampede fans anticipated their returning heros, and former world Tag Team Champions in the WWF, to win the titles with ease. They did not. These matches were all leading up to, of course, a match where the Commandos were confined to an event with no rules , no where to run and no way to win by cheating. A match inside a solid steel cage! Enjoy the match and I will return with more classic wrestling from the Stampede promotion. Check out more PatMan picks over at www.wonderpodonline.com and also check out our year end videogame podcast ! But, “In the mean time, and in-between time, that’s it. Another edition of Stampede Wrestling”!
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Welcome back to another trip in the Stampede time machine, were we will yet again look back at some classic old school wrestling from some of the legends of the past. This time around , young Bret Hart who is very early in his career gets involved in yet another great inter promotional wrestling match that Stampede was famous for having from time to time. This time its not against any World Champion from one of the big American federations such as the AWA, but a match against an opponent from Japan named Animal Hamaguchi. Animal also went by the name Higo Hamaguchi and was a wrestler in many of the great Japanese wrestling promotions of the time such as Japan Pro, All-Japan and New Japan Wrestling. While most people know that Stampede Wrestling was broadcasting across Canada and also into the northern United States, the show was also syndicated in many other countries across the globe, including Japan. Heck, some middle eastern nations at this time did not have any WWF or NWA wrestling at all on their T.V., yet they were watching Stampede for years. This could help explain Bret’s ultra popularity over there. Worth noting this week is that this is actually a Japanese syndicated version of Stampede Wrestling, so its a pretty unique video to watch. Also worth noting are all the photographers at ringside. Check out www.wonderpodonline.com for more PatMan picks and for episode 90 of our Video Game Podcast! See you all next time!
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Welcome back to another Stampede Wrestling classic encounter as we once again travel back in the pro wrestling time machine and return to Calgary, Alberta, Canada. This time around I have discovered what could very well be the first ever televised ladder match. The ladder match is of course a very popular event made very famous in the WWF. However unlike what some younger pro wrestling fans may think,Vincent Kennedy McMahon did not invent the ladder match. This type of match had been done long before it ever made its way to that big time federation. It was actually Stampede legend Bret Hart himself who suggested the ladder match type should be used in the WWF. So,when was the first ladder match, you ask? The first ever ladder match is up for some minor debate, but most “wrestling historians” strongly suggest that Dan Kroffat, way back in 1972 , invented the first ladder match in Stampede Wrestling. Kendo Nagasaki has also been mentioned, by some, as perhaps inventing the match around that same time but less confedently. In either case, no televised account of either match seems to exist but I do remain hopeful that there is some evidence of the first ladder match somewhere. I do, however, have one of the first ever internationally televised ladder matches. It involves Bert Hart and his opponent Bad News Allen ( Brown), two men who had been feuding for some time in the Stampede territory. Of course in the years to come they would continue this feud in the WWF. Enjoy this classic ladder match, possibly the first on TV, and I will return next time with more Stampede Wrestling classics! If you want more “PatMan picks” or you like video game podcasts, chech out www.wonderpodonline.com !
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Its time once again to travel back into Calgary’s rich wrestling past for some classic Stampede action. This time around I have a match showcasing the members of my favorite tag team of all time, the famous British Bulldogs. Or should I say future favorite tag team of all time. The catch is, this match takes place well before they ever teamed together, left for the WWF to became world champions, dominated in Japan and then returned back to Calgary once again. As a matter of fact , as you will soon see, Davey boy Smith is VERY young and practically unrecognizable when compared to his much more muscular, future Bulldog self. It is very evident that both of these yet to be world famous British Bulldogs are clearly not spending the same time working out in the gym and are not “into the juice” at this point in their careers. This is a great match for the Stampede mid-heavyweight title , held by the” heel ” Dynamite Kid as he defends against a very popular new ” face”, young Smith. As usual the crowd is very into the match, and also as usual in Stampede Wrestling the referee acts both idiotic and blind, driving the crowd nuts with his final decision. Worth noting this time around is the post match interviews with both future Bulldogs. This is where you will really see how young these future legends both were at this time and also how much time they must have spent in the gym soon after! Enjoy this classic encounter that took place in Calgary, Alberta, Canada and I will see you for another ” Ring -A- Ding- Dong- Dandy” next time. Dont forget to check out www.wonderpodonline.com for more “PatMan picks” , also episode 84 of our video game podcast and much more!
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Welcome yet again to another trip down Stampede Wrestlings historic and classic past. As Ed Whalen would perfectly put it, last week I had a “Malfunction at the junction”, but I am back this week for a ” Ring-A-Ding-Dong-Dandy!”. This time around lets have a look at tag team wrestling in the form of two very good teams. First up is “The Kiwis”, a tag team who became very famous later in the WWF under a new name “The Bushwhackers”. The Kiwis opponents on this particular night were two brothers who belong to one of the most famous families in the sports history, the Harts. This time around a young Bret teams up with his big brother Keith. Perhaps it was because he was older, or because he wanted to help his famous father run the family wrestling business, or maybe Vince just didn’t see the same potential in him, Keith Hart would not become a famous WWF champion as his little brothers Owen and Bret both did. That said, however, he was still a major force to be reckoned within the Stampede promotion and in my opinion could have made it just as big as his little brothers became worldwide. Although the Kiwis would become international wrestling stars in the future it was in Stampede that they really started to shine as a tag team. The extra time training in the famous dungeon along with the experience on the road across Canada gave the Kiwis their first ever tag team titles, right here in the Stampede promotion. Worth noting in this match, in classic Stampede Wrestling style, the referee turns a blind eye to most of the Kiwis heel tactics while preventing the hometown boys from making clean tags. Man, did those Stampede Wrestling Refs ever drive the fans crazy back in those days! Enjoy the tag team action and I will return again with more Stampede Wrestling classics next time!
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After making the clean tag with G, Im back with another edition of Stampede Wrestling classics. This time around I am bringing in someone one BIG. How big you say? How about the legendary Andre the Giant? In order to showcase his amazing size and skills, the big hearted giant made several appearances in the Stampede promotion over the years often appearing in gimmick matches like handicap matches and “tug of wars” . If you don’t think that Andre had skills, think again. He was man who once lifted a massive Arnold Schwarzenegger off his feet so he couldn’t pay the bill at a restaurant, while only using one arm . Andre had incredible strength. Thus, not accidently killing his opponents in the ring while preforming required great skill on his behalf. Skills that I assure you the other wrestlers were praying for. This week, I bring you a match taylor made for Andre, the battle royal. While its almost impossible to NOT center your attention completely on the giant in this encounter from Stampedes past you will find other wrestlers in the mix that are worth noting as well. At least 2 of the Hart brothers are partaking in the chaos, Bruce and Keith can be seen slugging away at their opponents. Also, a young Stampede Wrestler who would later become the Junk Yard Dog in WWF considers his chances against Andre as well. Im off to wonderpodonline.com to check out our video game podcast and also my retro PC game for the week , see you there if your interested! But, “In the meantime and in-between time.” enjoy this old school battle royal and I will be back with another ” ring a ding dong dandy ” next week!
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