Scott’s Blog of Doom

The SmarK 24/7 Rant for the Monday Night Wars – March 10 1997

And now, more history, as the Attitude Era officially begins…

Part one: RAW IS WAR!

- Live from Worcester, Mass.

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OK, so someone chided me for not actually including a link to Archie Gouldie’s masterful wrestling promo in the WCW thread, so BAD ME!  BAD ME! 

This one will take a bit of setup, however.

Archie “The Stomper” Gouldie was the top heel in Stampede for literally decades in the 60s and 70s, and by virtue of tenure more than anything else he turned babyface later in his career.  Whenever they wanted to turn the territory around, they’d bring in some top guy, put him against the Stomper, and usually rake in the money.  However, with Bruce Hart increasingly taking over as booker for the territory, they started to do stuff that was more over-the-top and actually leading towards what ECW would become.  Case in point, they bring in jobber Tommy Lane and Bruce introduces him to everyone as Jeff Gouldie, Archie’s son.  Now is this usual for them, they would bring in someone’s family member and give them a quick push to get them on their way, no big deal. 

What they do make a big deal out of is Gouldie’s impending retirement, however.  He cuts a promo talking about how his career is winding down, and how he wants to pass the torch to his son, so he can watch him be a big star in wrestling and not have to worry about taking care of business himself.  And sure, his son is a little green, but he’ll learn.  Now remember, Bruce didn’t even tell announcer Ed Whalen what’s going to happen. 

So Jeff has his first match, and it’s a tag match with his proud papa against I can’t remember who, when out of nowhere Bad News Allen attacks, wanting to settle his longtime score against the Stomper.  So he knocks Archie out, and then absolutely MURDERS Jeff, to a degree never seen on Stampede before.  There’s blood everywhere, and then he tosses the kid to the floor and piledrives him on the concrete, breaking his neck.  Paramedics are brought in and the crowd is just freaking out and nearly ready to riot.  Jeff’s ficticious career is over before it begins, and Archie cuts this promo…

Unfortunately, since they didn’t tell Whalen what was going to happen, he was so outraged at Allen’s brutality that he legitimately quit the promotion because he was so disgusted.  And since he controlled their TV exposure, he got them pulled off the station, leaving them with no TV to hype the biggest grudge match in forever.  Still, this was legendary stuff, and I daresay the Best Wrestling Promo In History.  Judge for yourselves.

The SmarK 24/7 Rant for World Championship Wrestling – November 30 1985

- So it’s the fallout from Starrcade, and we even get a match from it!

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