World Championship Wrestling
The SmarK 24/7 Rant for World Championship Wrestling - October 26 1985
- Time to get back on the horse, as they say. I got an e-mail from a concerned fan who thought that I was needing to move on past Benoit and hopefully avoid hating wrestling forever or something, but fear not, I’m fine. If Owen Hart’s death couldn’t kill my love for our so-called sport, this won’t either.
- So once again we skip ahead a few weeks, missing the October 19 show and moving on here. I like that plan — gets things moving towards the Horsemen.
- Your hosts are Tony & David.
- We start out with Arn Anderson, who decides to go with the “Possession is 9/10ths of the law” theory and presents himself as the new World TV champion, despite only stealing the belt from Dusty. We watch a clip of Arn knocking Dusty off his crutches and taking the belt, and then come back to Arn chuckling at the image, which is a nice touch.
- Magnum TA v. Tony Zane. Magnum finishes with his usual 30 second belly to belly. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him wrestle a squash that lasted more than a minute. He joins us for a promo afterwards, and he’s really quite miffed at Tully and Arn.
- Ricky and Robert join us, having lost the tag titles to those godless commies from Minnesota, the Russians. If only there was some major wrestling event upcoming where they could get a rematch!
- Jimmy Valiant and Big Mama (who weighs like 100 pounds and has jugs the size of melons) have words for Jim Cornette and the Midnight Express. I question Jimmy’s backup here.
- Superstar Billy Graham v. Joe Jobber. Teddy Long is working as a ringboy here, oddly enough. I must once again say how eerily Graham resembles the future Hollywood Hogan here, as it’s obvious that Hulk got his heel act from watching these tapes. Graham pounds the unnamed jobber down and hits the chinlock for a while, then tosses him and grabs a facelock on the way in. Graham messes up the body vice on the first try and then gets it to finish at 3:15.
- The Midnight Express v. Rocky King & Carl Stiles. We’re joined in progress here for some reason. Condrey works on the arm of Stiles and chokes him out on the ropes. Eaton dropkicks him and the Express double-teams him in the corner and they toss Stiles in and out, just to be jerks. STO from Dennis and Bobby finishes with the Rocket Launcher. They’re in a really bad mood this week and continue beating on Stiles, then kick the crap out of Rocky King as well. Jimmy Valiant tries to make the save and he gets destroyed, but a very unattractive woman hits the ring and cold-cocks Bobby with one punch. Well, that’s gotta be Ron Garvin in his cross-dressing secret identity of Miss Atlanta Lively. Was that “her” first appearance?
- DUSTY UPDATE! His doctor wants him to maintain his strength and fitness (*cough*) and we get a montage of Dusty’s exercise equipment. David Crockett, interviewing Dusty and the doctor, sadly does not jump in with ice-related questions and opinions this time around.
- Buddy Landell v. Rick Dunn. Dunn tries a wristlock but Landell scams the ref into breaking for using the hair. Dunn keeps coming with a crossbody for two, but Landell gets a cheapshot and pounds him down, then hits the chinlock. He slugs away in the corner and gets a dropkick, which sets up the corkscrew elbow and figure-four to finish at 2:22. While perusing Wikipedia as I generally do while watching these shows, I came across Ron Garvin’s entry, which claims that Buddy was booked to win the NWA World title from Flair but got busted for drugs, which resulted in Garvin’s title reign. I’ve never heard THAT version before. Who would be dumb enough to put a World title on freakin’ Buddy Landell?
- More with Dusty, as Bill Apter interviews Ric Flair and we get a video cut-in with Dusty at home to offer his point of view. He’s in video clips! He’s at the doctor! He’s at home! HE’S EVERYWHERE! He notes that he might still have a thousand great matches left in him. Yeah, and I might win the lottery tomorrow, but I wouldn’t stake my life on it. Despite this being Flair’s segment, he can barely get a word in edgewise. When he does, he declares Dusty’s career OVER, and thus out of his hair for good. Dusty calls him a hasbeen and Flair gets all worked up and yells at the blank screen.
- Paul Jones informs us that Barbarian is off winning titles in Asia or something, so there’s no Superstation challenge match tonight against Wahoo. Luckily, Arn Anderson still has some space left on his body to win more gold (not counting his SWEET pimp hat), so he’s ready.
- Southern heavyweight title: Wahoo McDaniel v. Arn Anderson. Wahoo chops Arn out of the ring to start, and then wins a test of strength and takes him down with a headlock. Arn fights up, but Wahoo takes him down again with an armbar and works on that. We take a break and return with Arn holding a chinlock, but Wahoo slugs out and chops him down for two. Another chop off a slam gets two. Wahoo works the count, but Arn recovers enough to pound him down, but Wahoo gets another chop for two before Ole runs in for the DQ at 7:20. Not much to this one. *1/2 The Andersons beat him down and Arn decides to add the Southern title to his collection, but Magnum TA has had ENOUGH and steals the belt back for Wahoo. Wahoo would lose that title a couple of weeks after this to some green rookie named Lex something or other.
- Next week’s Championship Challenge match is a special non-title Championship Challenge between Superstar Graham and Abdullah the Butcher. No, I don’t know how that’s a championship match, either.
- The Rock N Roll Express v. Randy Barber & Kent Nelson. Robert hits Barber with a kneelift as David announces that the Express gets a rematch with the Russians at Starrcade 85. Double elbow from the RNR and Nelson comes in and quickly gets taken down in a hammerlock. Man, they shouldn’t piss this guy off too much or he’ll use the power of Dr. Fate on them. Robert boots him down and Ricky drops a leg. Robert with a rollup for two and he works on the arm, as does Ricky. Double dropkick finishes at 4:49.
- First appearance of Tully this week, as apparently Magnum TA has requested an I Quit match for the US title at Starrcade. Tully denies him, because his chance has come and gone. Too bad, might have been a good match. Oh well, we’ll never know, I guess.
- Ole Anderson v. Mike Nickol. Ole wrestles Nickol down to the mat and rides him, then pounds him on the ropes. He throws knees and chokes him out, then grabs a standing armbar, turning it into a chickenwing on the mat. More choking on the ropes and Arn yells at him to finish the guy off. Good call, this is a boring squash. Ole jumps on the shoulder and then goes up and drops the knee on the stunned jobber, and finishes with the armbar at 4:37.
- Sam Houston v. The Black Cat. Houston controls with armdrags and a dropkick, but the Cat comes back with a hammerlock slam on Sam’s bad arm. Houston takes him down with another armdrag and works on the arm, but Black Cat gets his own armbar. Houston slugs out and fires away in the corner, setting up a dropkick and bulldog to finish at 4:20. Nice touch with Houston selling the previously broken arm.
- Magnum again makes his case for the I Quit match, and if Tully’s got any guts, he’ll sign. Well, we know he doesn’t, so that’s hardly the best tactic.
- Tully Blanchard v. The Italian Stallion. Stallion gets a dropkick to send Tully into the corner, as he’s very distracted by TA at ringside. Tully comes back with a kneelift and fires away in the corner, then hits the chinlock and tosses him. Back in, they slug it out while Magnum yells at Tully, and Stallion gets a small package for two. Tully slugs him down again and goes to the chinlock, but Stallion elbows out of it again. Stallion tries a headlock, but Tully suplexes out of it and elbows him down again, then drops a knee to the back of the head for two. Stallion keeps fighting, but Baby Doll trips him and the slingshot suplex finishes at 5:14. Magnum goes over to teach Baby Doll about meddling, and that triggers a crazy brawl between Tully and Magnum as the credits roll over top. Oh man, what an ending.
- Until next time…
Thanks for the rant Scott. Until Bell gets 24/7, I’m living vicariously through your reports.
I went to a local indy TV taping on Wednesday night and went through the motions as a fan. The majority owner of the company spoke to the crowd before the first match and basically said that the only thing keeping him going was that he was a mark like we were and nothing could keep him from loving wrestling. It’s really starting to sink in that it’s Benoit and his family that are gone and under such sordid circumstances.
Speaking of 24/7, but did it raise a red falg with anyone else that there was no new episode of the Monday Night War on the recent update?
Heh, I obviously meant “flag.”
Yeah, they probably are going to take any Benoit content off of on-demand for a while. I guess I can’t blame them, but I hope this doesn’t last TOO long. Maybe they will just go back to the tapes and clip out all his stuff.
If they cut out all of his stuff that would absolutely SUCK. I might just pull my subscription if they do that. I pay to watch complete shows not some edited-up hack job.
That really bugs me. I agree with the “don’t mention him from this point forward” idea but I really, really hate revisionist history. I mean, it pisses me off when they change someone’s theme music, let alone trying to convince us a significant wrestler never existed.
There wasn’t supposed to be a new Monday Night Wars but they took down the old one early.
I was watching the old ECW Tuesday night to get my mind off of things and of course I forgot Woman was the valet for Sandman. That was supposed to stay up a week more but it’s gone too.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the WWE erasing Benoit. The NFL/NBC did it with O.J. Simpson. It’s not like he just died, like Eddie Guerreo, or even worse, died because of drugs, like Pillman. He’s a double murderer. If they edit Benoit out of every forthcoming Nitro or take his matches out of WCW/WWF events, that’s fine with me. Some people may not care, but some people really don’t want to see it and that’s more important. Personally, if I never watch another Benoit match, that’s fine. Maybe in a couple years I could, but not now and not in the near future.
By the way, the MSG show on the Big Ones sucks arse. No idea why it was put up at all.
Also, the Luger/Yokozuna match from SummerSlam is 1000 times funnier in retrospect with McMahon having a coronary when Luger wins by countout while the crowd seems really, really confused about what they should do. And the Edge/Hogan tag team match is also hilarious because Tazz says, “It must be an honor for Edge to hold Old Glory on July 4th.” Just cracks me up.
I’m looking forward to watching Great American Bash ‘88 if only because I’ve never seen it and I’m becoming a mark for 80’s NWA. I never got TBS in Connecticut so I missed the old-school stuff completely.
I could’ve swore they put up that Feb. 2 episode over two weeks ago. I may be wrong.
they only put up two a month so the last one was going to be up until three weeks until the next one was put next Wednesday. There’s a detailed schedule floating around on some cable company’s website but I can’t find it right now. If I do, I’ll post it since the WWE doesn’t anymore.
I don’t watch enough ESPN Classic to know if they still show bills games from that era or USC games from when he was in college, but Naked Gun still comes on television, OJ and all. It’s going to make some of the old nitros and PPVs not make sense if there are other matches that he’s not directly involved in but that relate to him, like if he was US champ and there was a match on Nitro to see who would face him, or some such. Are they just going to cut out all the horsemen storylines? It’s a fucking mess. If someone doesn’t want to see Chris Benoit at any costs, it’s probably not a good idea to watch a nitro from 1997 in the first place.
Well, the Bills were a pretty bad team when OJ was there, so they probably won’t make ESPN Classic
But more to the point - yes the Naked Gun movies still air on television, and football shows will show footage of OJ on occasion. But keep in mind that this is years later. I doubt anyone was showing any of this immmediately after the murder of Nicole Simpson or the the trial. Just because WWE is pulling all the videos from 24/7 now doesn’t mean they will in perpetuity.
I watch a lot of ESPN. ESPN and the NFL have just about erased OJ Simpson from history. (I don’t know for sure, but I think I heard he was taken out of the Hall of Fame.) It’s only been in the last year or two I’ve even heard his name mentioned and even then, I think it was because a runner passed his record.
Did anyone see this? There’s no facts backing his story, so it boggles my mind that the newspaper would let him write it. (He wonders if Nancy killed the kid first.)
http://www.postchronicle.com/commentary/article_21289275.shtml
Here’s what I talking about with the detailed schedule…
http://www.sunflowerbroadband.com/cable/ondemand/upcoming/?network=wwe
That’s awesome, thanks. According to that, WM23 is supposed to be up, which it’s not. I’m guessing that’s a Benoit thing.
Speaking of editing… I’m guessing that Demolition’s theme music (among others) is edited b/c of copyright issues… which makes little sense. Also, what was the official reason for changing from WWF to WWE? I know that the World Wildlife Fund threatened litigation, but even that doesn’t make sense. I was even more perplexed when I saw that the old WWF logo is on the new DVDs but the newer one isn’t. Any simple clarification would be appreciated.
In a nutshell, they lost the litigation with the World Wildlife Fund. In 1994 the two organizations reached a legal agreement over use of the initials ‘WWF’, and in 2000 a British judge ruled that Titan Sports (the WWF/WWE parent company) violated that agreement.
The wrestling company is allowed to use some of the old WWF logos and initials in some circumstances. Apparently, they can’t use the “Attitude” WWF logo, but can use the older logos. They may have just decided the to go with the new name and initials always just to make things easier, but the old logo is apparently still allowed, probably because it predates the agreement with the World Wildlife Fund.
Yeah, part of the agreement, as I remember reading back when they changed to the “WWE” was that the (wrestling) WWF could not change their logo at any point because of the agreement.
I guess the tilted “New Generation” logo was OK because it was still the same basic logo and not as drastically changed as the Attitude logo was.
This is completely random and I apologize for it in advance, but does anyone have any idea why King Leonidas is listed on the SmackDown! Superstars page on WWE.com?
Speaking of WWE.com, photos of Benoit in action can still be seen on various wrestlers’ bio pages, for whatever that’s worth.
I don’t know about Leonidas, but I hear he uses a ‘big boot’ as his finisher. Nothing good can come of that.
Worst…finisher…ever…
Well, with JBL retired, he could always start using the Clothesline from “TONIGHT, WE DINE IN” Hell.
Worst…finisher…ever…although someone should bring back the iron claw, glove and all; ala Blackjack Mulligan. I miss that finisher.
So who’s pumped about Respect is Earned. Wooo!
This is probably unrelated but the Dusty Rhodes legend bit on WWE 24/7 is awesome. For one, it has the Hard Times promo that still gives me goose bumps. But the best is that they show Dusty turning face, maybe for the first time, in old footage from the 70s. Dusty is commentated after the fact with Gordon Solie and Dusty is obviously in character but absolutely hilarious. “Oooh, right here I’m about to clubber him in the head.” “Oohh, I got hit right in the noggin but I’m back for more. “NO MAN HITS DUSTY RHODES!” There’s also a fun match between Rhodes & Billy Graham from ‘77. The NYC crowd was feeeeeeling Dusty.
Before I really knew anything about Dusty, growing in Connecticut and born in ‘82 I totally missed it, I totally did not get the appeal at all. Watching his stuff on 24/7, I understand completely. I’m marking out when his stuff gets put up because I’ve seen so little of it. The matches, no not great, but DAMN those promos are insanely good.
Dusty is tremendously unfairly maligned by the IWC. The man is pure gold from every angle. This is what we need more of. Personality as opposed to athleticism.
Dusty was great. Keep in mind, the “IWC” consists of primarily, tape traders living in their parents basement.
Most casual fans loved the Dream.
I’d say we need more guys who have both (i.e. Austin, Rock, Jericho, HBK, Savage… “in his prime” assumed in all cases) and a solid grasp of psychology.
I’m very glad and encouraged Scott will continue his excellent writing on wrestling. I was worried too how much the incident was effecting Scott, and I am thankful that he will continue offering his great opinions (and I can’t wait arguing over the ones I don’t agree with either).
To the show…yeah, I noticed Magnum T.A.’s squash matches were very short. But at least he did them, unlike Hogan and other WWE champions at the time who didn’t even bother to wrestle out of pay per views (it bugs me that a World Champion wouldn’t bother to defend his title more often).
I also saw the Yoko-Lex Summerslam match. My theory is, Bret was getting alot of heat from the Lawyer feud that was taking place, and Vince was probably wondering if making Luher the champ was the right decision. Plus, he was perhaps reluctant to award the title to a familiar NWA face (remember, Sgt. Slaughter just came out of the then weak and deterorating AWA when he got the belt, and Flair was booked to win because Vince was a sentimental fan of his). Vince got cold feet, so he made Lex win on a countout. Then the ‘94 Royal Rumble was practically an expensive scale used to measure Bret and Lex’s heat after both eliminated themselves, and of course Bret (just now coming from the hot Owen feud) got the audience’s full support.
Also, in the case of the WWF name litigation, I believe the judge who ruled in favor to the Wildlife Foundation gave Vince two options: He could still keep and use the “Scratched” Attitude loga and call themselves the WWF as long as they pay an annual charity donation to the Wildlife Life Foundation, or they could just completely change their name and logo and not ever use the initials WWF and blurring the “Scratche” logo from thir video history. If you know how stubborn Vince can be, you can pretty much know what option he choosed.
Finally, and I hate to bring this up, but over the weekend by chance I happened to watch the Ladder Match dvd (whic is very good I might add). On the Smackdown TLC match that had Jericho and Benoit winning the tag belts, it was also the one that had Chris break his neck after taking a dive to a table and ut him out of action for a year. If what the authorities are saying is true, that during this time when Benoit was resting he developed an addiction to painkillers and steroids which would then contribute to the murders-suicide, then that TLC match I just watched over the weekend may have indirectly led to what happened over the weekend.
Wikipedia has become the absolute worst source for anything involving pro wrestling - most of the notable articles are held hostage by teenage shut-ins who revert and edit-war to protect their versions of the articles.