TNT
The SmarK 24/7 Rant for Tuesday Night Titans - September 13 1985
- This one is a bit tougher to recap in the strictest sense of the word, because rather than a wrestling show it was Vince McMahon’s horrific attempt at a talk show. Basically Vince and sidekick Lord Alfred Hayes play it straight and “interview” guests (who are all wrestlers), showing clips from their latest “shows” (which are generally matches from the syndicated shows at the time). Yes, it was a car wreck beyond belief, but at least the whole concept spawned Fuji Vice.
- Our first guest tonight: Randy Savage, very early in his WWF career. Sadly, this isn’t the episode where he debuts his classic “Hulk Who? / MachoMania Is Running Wild” t-shirt. This was in the midst of the “Who will get to manage him” angle, where Savage courted all five of the major managers at that point and then screwed them all over in favor of Miss Elizabeth. Amazingly, there were no repercussions for him, as everyone took the betrayal pretty well. So we get a squash match from Superstars to introduce Liz, and then it’s the sit-down interview portion with them, as Savage is actually pretty low-key compared to later, well, weeks, and Elizabeth is playing it more evil and smirking than demure and shy. In retrospect, she was a brilliant foil for him once she got that character down, because Savage was such an over-the-top loony that fans couldn’t help but cheer for him. Why? Confidence sells tickets. Say what you will about gimmicks or pushing the right people or the look or whatever, but stick someone out there who BELIEVES he’s the best and can deliver that in a promo, and people will get behind him and treat him like a star. And if there’s one thing that Savage has buckets of, it’s confidence. However, putting him with Elizabeth means that he instantly has a weak spot, turning him into a raving, jealous boyfriend who people wouldn’t possibly want to cheer. Left to his own devices, he’d shoot up the ranks to World champion, but with Elizabeth, the character becomes much more interesting because you never knew when he’d get sidetracked and distracted, and that’s where his second dimension as a character came from. At any rate, back to the “interview”, as Savage talks over Elizabeth for the first time and rants on and on about how he’ll destroy Hulkamania. Liz, who is not yet used to being part of the three-ring circus that is Randy Savage, keeps cracking up while Savage talks about how he could be managed by a flower pot and still drop the big elbow on Hogan. And people were SURPRISED when this guy went crazy?
- Next guest: Ricky Steamboat. He’s full of inspirational words and crap. And naturally, we get a squash match for his clip. He has some words for Don Muraco, but despite discussing it to death, we don’t get footage of Steamboat fighting the NINJA JOBBERS OF DOOM. Well, maybe next time.
- Next guest: Freddie Blassie and the late Moondog Spot. The squash match of choice is Spot teaming with Barry O (jobber Barry Orton, Randy’s estranged uncle who managed to piss off Vince forever by taking the prosecution’s side in the steroid trials) in an odd pairing. They finish with a Spot shoulderbreaker into a Barry O elbow. The interview goes nowhere until Spot ends it by “pissing” on Hayes while Blassie beats on him with his cane to make him stop. Really, where can you go after that?
- Last guest: Bobby Heenan, carrying a John Studd figure that I of course had in my collection back in the 80s. The clip here is an oddball six-man from MSG, with Studd/Adonis/Heenan v. Windham/Rotundo/Steele. Heenan complains about the editing of the match, which clipped all his offense out. Best part of the show: Vince holds up an article from WWF Magazine to make a point about Heenan, and down in the corner where you can’t even see it on TV without a magnifying glass is a little “WWF Magazine” byline, and of course they blur it out. Vince brings out a little kid and his pet weasel for the purpose of comparing to Bobby, but the results are inconclusive. Heenan sniping at the poor kid is hilarious.
- Vince wraps it up.
The Pulse: I dunno, is it worth recapping further? Your call, guys.
I’ve been a wrestling fan for just ten years, and I was born in 1984, meaning I wasn’t even aware of its existence for four or five years yet.
One thing I love about reading your rants/recaps, Scott, is reading about the history and context surrounding the major angles at that time. I’ve got the Flair, Piper, Dusty, Roberts, Hart, Hogan, and 80s Stars DVDs, so I’ve seen plenty of matches from that era. But those DVDs don’t really delve much into that history. I love reading rants from the 80s and reading about things like why Elizabeth was paired with Savage, and why Ronnie Garvin was the only person dumb enough to agree to being a lame duck/transitional champion. The booking was so vastly different back then - compared to now - it’s like the WWE and WWF are two completely different promotions run by two completely different men.
So that’s why I like rants like this one.
I agree totally that I love historical reviews like this because of the context that the events are placed in. I enjoyed the observations on early Elizabeth for example. My opinion is that I am not sure if McMahon wanted her to play the character evil like a Baby Doll or Missy Hyatt, so he had her play it a little more evil. I remember thinking back then when they brought her in that McMahon was going to give her a full stable like the other managers.
As far as the Barry Orton thing goes though, I think the review is wrong on that. The reason Barry Orton was blackballed was not because of the steroid trial (Nailz was the only wrestler who went against McMahon on that), but because of the ring boy scandal. Barry Orton lied (he has admitted to lying) and said Pat Patterson and Tery Garvin tried to force him to do sexual things to get a push. Since Pat Patterson is universally respected in the industry and never had any involvement in any sex scandals that got barry blackballed by McMahon and other promoters (Barry Orton is the 1 guy Bischoff would not sign).
Yup, I was thinking sex scandals and typed steroid trials, thanks for the correction.
I’m actually around Scott’s age but don’t have WWE 24/7 (DTv doesnt carry it yet), so for me, this is a blast from the past of when I was a kid.
I say, bring ‘em on!! If anything Scott, you can exercise some analysis about the angles back then with the “netcop” rant style.
Scott,
I think you should keep on doing it, or find someone in your little band of writers that could pull the task off. I liked the campness and the goofball tatics of both TNA and the 1990-91 Prime Time Wrestling.
Probably not, it’d probably be cooler to see a rant on some of the newer PPVs like No Mercy and Summerslam (seriously, no Summerslam rant for 2006?).
Yeah, definitely continue these. Everyone reviews current product, so these glimpses into the past are awesome. I’d especially love some WCW stuff when it’s available.
With every 24/7 review you post my jealousy grows. I need digital cable. Seriously though, keep the reviews coming. I enjoy envy.
You can’t beat a bit of nostalgia. If i’m searching through my video library, looking for a random wrestling PPV to watch, i’m far more likely to choose something from late 80s/early 90s than any of the current stuff. The quality of the matches wasn’t always great but events from that period seemed more “special” than today’s PPVs. I know off by heart the matches for every one of the first 10 Wrestlemanias yet i recently struggled to recall who featured in the Smackdown title match at last year’s ‘Mania.
TNT might not be worth reviewing since there isn’t much to review. Of all the things on 24/7 I enjoy it the least. I usually just end up fast forwarding through most of it.
Also they showed the Ninja trainging skit a few weeks ago so it probably won’t be on again for a very long time.
I love these reviews. Im around Scotts age and remember watching alot of the things he reviews or reading about it in the apter mags. Like the others on this board I love reading about the story behind everything in his reviews. The first thing I did when I saw this 24/7 channel was try to get it, but I have Time Warner. So all I have is the reviews Bring Em on!
Scott, I really enjoy these “retro rants” (to coin a phrase).
In terms of the present-day product, I certainly appreciate that you find it unenjoyable; I echo what someone said above re: SummerSlam, and would expand it a bit - if you could find the time to rant on at least the current “Big 4″ (WM, SumSlam, SurSer, RR) on an annual basis, you would be carrying on with rants that you have basically covered from the beginning; that’s no small feat.
Just my $0.02.
I love retro rants and want lots more of them. I too loathe both TNA and McMahon at the present time. Getting these old school rants an vieiwng them in combination with my wrestling DVD collection is the only way I enjoy wrestling right now. Little things like how Elizabeth acted in these early days and Heenan being Heenan are fascinating to me looking back on them.
For a few minutes there, I was confused as to how “Tuesday Night Titans” was dated for September 13, 1985 when September 13, 1985 was a Friday? Was it just taped on Friday and it aired on Tuesday, or was it just a direct shot to Ted Turner, and the name is more-or-less irrelevant?
I only bring this up because, well, I was born at 2:07 on the morning of Friday, September 13, 1985. So, if my entire life is one big, fat lie, I kinda wanna know.