Well this is one of those frustrating moments where I felt like the WWF had a perfect reason to take a shot on Luger and didn't capitalize.
Otherwise it was a pretty good card with a much better-than-expected title match as Yokozuna could still move a little.
Sorry I've been in the basement for a good bit but family vacations come before all else and I needed the Caribbean sun and the ABC Islands were more than willing to provide it for me.
I still will get all these Main Events done by the 15th because the Princess never the Kingdom down.
Anyway Summerslam 1992, it's one of the great WWF/E of yesteryear and it was a pretty risky move by Vince deciding to hold this sucker in England but a crowd of 80K+ proved the risk worth taking.
Both halves of the Double Main Event were excellent as well but which match was better?
The Princess Rant for Summerslam Main Events: Summerslam ‘89
From The Meadowlands Arena in East Rutherford, N.J.
Hosted by Tony Schiavone and Jesse “The Body” Ventura
I start off this project with a doozy. Remember a few months back where I was openly (jokingly) talked about doing a Hogan vs. Savage book…although no one buys books anymore. It would probably be a documentary.
Anyway I found a guy at my gym, name will be withheld, that worked for the WWF during a bit of this period and we were chatting on the stair master when I asked him some questions about the Hogan-Savage relationship.
Thought this was a well-thought post worthy of discussion, so I’ll just post it here via the inbox without adding much.
I know this has been brought up for debate in numerous threads, but I'm not sure it's been a topic of it's own.
Growing up as a wrestling fan in the late 1980s was a special time for me. Maybe it's because time seems to pass very slowly as a child, but it seems that superstars who seemed to be around FOREVER while I was growing up, really weren't around that long.
Just for clarification, I'm counting a superstar's first big in-ring run with the WWF beginning no earlier than 1985 (exceptions being Hulk Hogan and Roddy Piper). Take a look at Ted DiBiase. Even though he wrestled for the WWWF in 1979, I don't consider this run as part of my analysis. Ted DiBiase debuted the "Million Dollar Man" character in late 1987 and his in-ring career was over by mid 1993--a mere 5-1/2 years. I know he stuck around well into 1996 with his Million Dollar Corporation before jumping to WCW, but his in-ring career had long been over.
Other such superstars include:
Bret Hart 1985-1997 (12 years) - Took off 7 months from WrestleMania XII to Survivor Series 1996
Hulk Hogan 1983-1993 (9.5 years) - Took off 1 year from WrestleMania VII to WrestleMania IX
Shawn Michaels 1988-1998 (9.5 years) - Took several short stints off (knee surgery in 1990, 9 thugs in Syracuse, lost smile)
Roddy Piper 1984-1992 (8 years) - Took off 2 years from WrestleMania III to WrestleMania V
Randy Savage 1985-1992 (7.5 years) - Took off 8 months from WrestleMania VII to This Tuesday in Texas
Jake Roberts 1986-1992 (6 years)
Ultimate Warrior 1987-1992 (5 years) - Took off 8 months from SummerSlam '91 to WrestleMania VIII
Mr. Perfect 1988-1993 (5 years) - Took off 1.5 years from SummerSlam '91 to Survivor Series 1992
Big Boss Man 1988-1993 (4.5 years)
Earthquake 1989-1994 (4.5 years)
Ricky Steamboat 1985-1988 (3.5 years)
You get my point, ad nauseum. With the exception of Hart, Hogan and Michaels, most of the biggest names in the company during the late 1980s and early 1990s didn't last more than 8 years in a single stint with WWF. Also, most of the guys with over 5 years in had periods where they were gone for at least 6 months for one reason or another.
However, I look at contemporary WWE programming, WWE's current roster, and when each superstar debuted:
Undertaker - November 1990 (19.5 years) - Took 7 months off in 1994; currently works reduced schedule
Triple H - May 1995 (15 years) - Missed about 14 months due to 2 torn quads
Mark Henry - September 1996 (13.5 years)
Kane - October 1997 (12.5 years)
Edge - June 1998 (12 years) - Most recently missed 5 months during end of 2009 due to injury
Matt Hardy - September 1998 (11.5 years)
Big Show - February 1999 (11 years) - Took a little over a year off around 2007
Chris Jericho - August 1999 (10.5 years) - Took over 2 years off between SummerSlam 2005 and Survivor Series 2007
John Cena - June 2002 (8 years)
Randy Orton - April 2002 (8 years)
Batista - May 2002 (8 years)
Then they wonder why the product has gotten stale. Hell, even Hornswoggle's been with WWE for about 5 years. When you really break it down, it looks like the average of the current roster has spent about 5 more years in their initial big run with the company than their predecessors. I feel this is due to about four major factors: age, exposure, competition, and down time.
AGE: John Cena just turned 33 a couple of days ago. Hulk Hogan was 30.5 when he won his first WWF Championship in 1984. Today's superstars are getting their biggest pushes at younger ages (SEE Swagger, Jack) so that by the time they reach John Cena's age, there is nothing left for them to do . . . even though they could theoretically go another 20+ years. I don't know about you, but I'm not sure I could handle another 20 years of Cena!
EXPOSURE: When I was growing up, it was a treat to see a Hulk Hogan interview, let alone watch him wrestle . . . a jobber. There was less original programming every week and only a handful of PPVs per year. John Cena gets at least 15 minutes of air time each week and is expected to sell over 12 PPVs a year. So even though Hulk Hogan lasted from 1983-1993 and John Cena's only been around since June 2002, John Cena has actually been around for 16 "Hogan" years.
COMPETITION: Although I'm not the biggest Jeff Hardy fan, I do have to give him credit as he never seems to overstay his welcome as this is now his second stint in TNA. Back in the late 80s and early 90s, there were viable alternatives to the WWF, such as WCW, AWA, and ECW, among others. Unless TNA stops bringing in WWE rejects that people don't want to see (Nasty Boys, Val Venis, Orlando Jordan, The Band, etc.), TNA will never be real competition.
DOWN TIME: Wrestlers just don't seem to take that much time off anymore. In the old days it wasn't uncommon for a guy to take a year off for one reason or another. These days superstars rush back from injury (SEE Cena, John and Batista, Dave). When Shawn Michaels injured his knee in 1990, Shane Douglas subbed for him in The Rockers, while Michaels recovered. Now, even when a guy gets injured, he's still heavily featured on programming so fans don't FORGET him and he doesn't lose his SPOT. This mentality is flawed. Fans will never forget a good worker (SEE Steamboat, Ricky) and by heavily featuring an injured star, it never really feels like he's gone; so when said star comes back, it doesn't feel as fresh as it could. I do have to take my hat off to Big Show, Chris Jericho, and Rob Van Dam for voluntarily taking extended leaves of absence.
npiwowar
P.S. - Speaking of Matt Hardy--who has been with WWE for about 12 years, excluding the stint when he was released for whining about Lita on the Internet--why hasn't this guy been PUSHED? You could give a dozen reasons, such as Vince likes big guys, but just about any reason could be countered in comparison with Jeff who was given the keys to the company and jumped to TNA. Matt is bigger than Jeff, has less personal demons, seems more reliable/dedicated, has about equal mic skills, and at times has been just as over, but has never risen above the mid-card. Right now he seems stale, but I feel McMahon missed the boat with him on several occassions. Matt seemed really over in 2003 with the whole Mattitude thing. He also could have been risen to the main event with Edge over the whole Lita thing in 2005. I also remember his feud with MVP in 2007 being really good. The whole thing that got me thinking about this was that I was watching SmackDown this week and saw Drew McIntyre destroy Hardy the same way Edge did at SummerSlam 2005, killing all his heat in the process. I wonder why Matt hasn't ever jumped to TNA because of this treatment.
Hey Scott!
I hope all is well with you. Mike is my name, and I´ve been reading your blogs and reviews for years.
Got a question for you: what stars through the years would you say are the ones that appeared the most "ahead of their time"? I remember you writing something along those lines about Bad News Brown once, as he had the Stone Cold-persona back in the late 80´s, but the time just wasn´t right for that to catch on as it did with Austin. A guy that comes to mind for me is Hakushi - it just seemed to me back in ´95 that he was "too cool" and likely too small to get the real push, but had it been a different time, he could´ve been pretty huge. Then of course there are guys like Dynamite Kid and Randy Savage - though they did get their success, especially the latter, they were also ahead of their time. What other names would you put on the table?
Be good and keep writing those brilliant reviews!
Mike in Sweden
My inbox has been EMPTY lately, so I’m glad for the chance to blog about something this weekend.
Anyway, some obvious choices here:
- Ken Shamrock was clearly a guy who pioneered the style later mined by Kurt Angle, although he was a pretty bad worker so it’s hard to give him too much credit.
- Brad Armstrong would have been a cruiserweight star had he been young and energetic in 1996, rather than in 1986. He would have been exactly what WCW was looking for: An American wrestler with a good look who could hang with the luchadors.
- Ditto for Brian Pillman. He was the prototype cruiserweight star in a time before fans were ready for it, and burned himself out by the time they WERE ready for it.
- Kerry Von Erich in a lot of ways was prescient of the current look and style that WWE wants to present. Tall, muscular and with an AWESOME head of hair, and a great US-style worker to boot.
I’ll let you guys come up with more yourselves.
MICHAEL'S IMPACT REVIEW #15
APRIL 12, 2010
THE IMPACT ZONE - ORLANDO, FLORIDA
- Before we get into another rousing edition of Impact, I thought I would share a funny story with you. I have been on ring crews for WCW, WWE, and ECW at different times in my life. Back in 2001, during the dying days of WCW, I was setting up the ring for a house show in Columbia, South Carolina. The funny part of working a WCW event was finding out which WCW jobber would be driving the ring truck to the arena at any given point. On this particular time it was Pistol Pez Whatley. Any wrestling fan knows that the WCW ropes were nothing more than steel cables that were wrapped in colored tape and tightened to capacity. As I was tightening the turnbuckle in a corner, Pistol Pez walks over to me and says, :"Better make sure those ropes are tight, or Kevin Nash will bitch;". Now this has still had me asking two questions I never got answers for: a) How much of "hitting the ropes" was Nash doing at that point? and b) Did wrestlers actually have that much pull in the back to where they request how loose or tight the ring is set up? I'll never know, I guess...Let's cross the line.
So I'm watching a few minutes of NXT last week and while the concept isn't the worst thing I've ever heard the execution is very poor.
They are taking mostly developmental talent (and of course more experienced guys like Danielson) and making them wrestle each other in fairly boring contests.
MICHAEL'S IMPACT REVIEW #13
MARCH 29, 2010
ORLANDO, FLORIDA - THE IMPACT ZONE
- Well, let me give you a quick look on how I received Wrestlemania 26. Of the 9 matches I knew about, I picked 7 correct, only getting Punk and Kofi in the MITB wrong. MizShow vs. Morrison/Truth could have been on the pre-show. Last year's match for the Unified belts would have been well received on pay per view. Orton is on fire. I don't know where they take it from here, unless you want to see Orton and Cena face off for the belt, AGAIN. Money in the Bank kinda left me with a "it was ok" feeling. Swagger could not have been anyone's pick. Triple H and Sheamus literally put me to sleep. Thank God for DVR. Same goes for Rey and Punk. The Bret hart match was about as good as it could go. Unfortunately it looked like DH Smith and Tyson Kidd were laying those shots in pretty hard. Jericho and Edge got my attention the last five minutes of the match. They could have stolen the show if they could have gone longer....BUT...the Diva's tag match was HORRIFIC!!!!!! There is your 15 extra minutes wasted with that horseshit. Seriously, Eddie Guerrero had to be dizzy from spinning in his grave after watching his wife point to the sky before botching her "hog splash". In my opinion, John Cena and Batista stole the show. That's right, I said it. For two guys that aren't very "net friendly" performers, they put on a helluva match, My moment that I will take away with me this year was watching Cena standing with the "We Hate Cena" crowd. I love it. As for the main event, HBK and Taker put on about as good of a match as they could. They couldn't top last year's match unless they were both covered in blood and went about 45 minutes. Interestingly enough, I do believe that this match was the same exact time as the Flair/HBK match from WM24. I could be wrong, but exactly 24 minutes sticks out in my head for some reason. Oh yeah, Impact is on tonight...LET'S CROSS THE LINE!!!
The SmarK Retro Rant for Wrestlemania X
- Given we're at that point in the RAW Legacy rants, now is as good a time as any to redo this show, what with Shawn Michaels' final match coming up this weekend.
- Live from Madison Square Garden.
- Your hosts are Vince McMahon & Jerry Lawler
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