Hasbeen2

Old enough to have one and communicate with a few classmates, post quizzes and surveys, send messages to celebrities and have celebrities as "friends." Young enough that it's checked daily with blocks for anyone not approved. The point was Neidhart taking the time to message a fan, not anything else.

He wasn't HBK at the time, he was typical 80s pretty boy tag specialist. They rarely made new stars, just about everybody was already estiablished or wasn't over. I thought about it and looking at the AWA's point of view, it might have been hard to put anybody over other than their old guard since they could be on a plane to New York at any time. I'm surprised ESPN didn't put a little money into it, even if they looked down on the show it was one of their own and brought in dollars. Hansen was basically a Japanese wrestler working the States every now and then. Brody was undepedable but even when they had him he was misused-a stadium show in Minneapolis had Brody and the Barbarian against Snuka and....Greg Gage, in a cage. Three wildmen and Greg, which name didn't belong. I've read Scott Hall couldn't wait to get out of the AWA due to the cold, dollars should help that but they might have been in short supply. Kerry was available after Hennig left for the WWF if I remember things right. Summing it up, after some bad decisions and most importantly Hogan (who might have left eventually anyway, even with a run with the belt) they just didn't have many options. They had the Road Warriors but couldn't keep them even with some big crowds. 1985 Superclash in Chicago, 21,000 at Comiskey Park. At the end they couldn't draw 21,000 in a month. AWA Americas Champ Sgt. Slaughter beat Boris Zuhkov (9:34) via DQ. IWA Champ Mil Mascaras pinned Buddy Roberts (6:57). Jumbo Tsuruta, Giant Baba, & Genichiro Tenryu beat Harley Race, Bill & Scott Irwin (10:57) when Baba pinned Bill. Sherri Martel pinned Candi Divine (11:24) to win the AWA Women's Title. World Class Texas Champ Kerry Von Erich pinned Jimmy Garvin (6:47). AWA Tag Champs Road Warriors beat Freebirds (Gordy & Hayes) (14:12) via DQ. NWA Midget Champ Little Tokyo pinned Little Mr. T (6:54). Jerry Blackwell beat Kamala (9:50) in a "bodyslam" match. AWA Junior Heavyweight Champ Steve Regal pinned Brad Rheingans (8:19). Greg Gagne, Scott Hall, & Curt Hennig beat Ray Stevens, Nick Bockwinkel, & Larry Zbyszko (12:20) when Hall pinned Stevens. NWA World Six Man Tag Champs Krusher Khruschev, Ivan & Nikita Koloff wrestled Crusher, Dick the Bruiser, Baron Von Raschke (9:40) when Ivan pinned Raschke. NWA World Champ Ric Flair pinned Magnum TA (19:10). AWA World Champ Rick Martel DCO Stan Hansen (2:30). Going back to another gripe, Stevens and Baron took the pins on this show but three or four years later couldn't? For those that might not know, that was a different Steve Regal. SuperClash III in Chicago, 1988, crowd of 1600 Hector, Chavo, & Mando Guerrero beat Cactus Jack & Rock-n-Roll RPMs (6:35) when Chavo pinned Lane. Eric Embry pinned Jeff Jarrett (4:13). Jimmy Valiant pinned Wayne Bloom (0:24). WCCW Texas Champ Iceman King Parsons pinned Brickhouse Brown (5:41). Ricky Rice, Derrick Dukes, & Wendi Richter beat Paul Diamond, Pat Tanaka, & Madusa Micelli beat (5:43) when Richter pinned Micelli. Greg Gagne beat Ronnie Garvin (5:52) via countout to win the AWA TV Title (yes, by countout, over an NWA champ from a year before) The Syrian Terrorist won a "street fight lingerie battle royal" (8:36). Also in the match were: Bambi, Peggy Lee Leather, Laurie Lynn, Brandi Mae, Malibu, Nina, Pocohantas, and Luna Vachon. Sgt Slaughter beat Col DeBeers in a "boot camp" match. WCCW Tag Champs The Samoan Swat Team beat Michael Hayes & Steve Cox (7:53) when Samu pinned Hayes. Wahoo McDaniel beat Manny Fernandez (7:48) in an "Indian strap" match. AWA World Champ Jerry Lawler beat Kerry Von Erich (18:53) to win the WCCW Title when the referee stopped the match due to Von Erich's excessive bleeding. The Rock-n-Roll Express DCO Jimmy Golden & Robert Fuller (5:52).

A previous Super Clash was held in Chicago and was a success but that one was an NWA/AWA effort that included Flair. Looking back, the talent was better than the crowd would make it seem but the site selection was awful.

Yeah I noticed that but they didn't even let Bruiser get the pin on Sheik.

It's not a nice business and a lot of the people involved probably shouldn't be walking the streets. Some of these details will shock but as a whole nobody should be surprised.

You've got a new message from Natalie Neidhart on MySpace! My daughter got that in an email earlier and got a return Myspace message on what was basically typical fan mail, from a kid. Tickled her to death, it doesn't sound like Neidhart's recent success has changed her. Yeah I check the mail.

Stevens and Baron were beating young talent as a team and as singles around the same time on house shows. You can make the young talent look good, take a pinfall, and still show the old guys have some gas in the tank. There was no excuses for those two to be winning when they should have been focusing on new stars.

I do think Hennig was ready earlier than when he got the belt but that might have sped up his arrival in the WWF too. In the last years of the AWA Vince was taking everybody from Gagne, the Nasty Boys, Baron Von Rasche, Sgt Slaughter, Enos and Bloom and I think even the late DJ Peterson. Probably anybody who was really over with the fans would be gone, even if it had been Michaels with a singles belt. I would have liked to seen the Minneapolis and Memphis deal work out too but Gagne from all accounts couldn't afford it. Chicago was not a good area for SuperClash with Lawler and Kerry, it would have been huge in Memphis. A lot of it was Gagne or whoever else was making the decisions at the time. Look at this card from February 1988: Greg Gagne beat AWA Champion Curt Hennig, AWA belt held up AWA Tag Team Champions Midnight Rockers beat Kevin Kelly & Mr. Go Dick The Bruiser beat Sheik Adnan dq (Hard Boiled Haggerty Referee) Wahoo McDaniel & Baron Von Raschke beat Nasty Boys Billy Robinson drew Tom Zenk Ray Stevens beat Soldat Ustinov Ricky Rice beat JT Thomas I'm not the type who cries about losing a match equalling get buried (CM Punk fans) but some of those decisions were horrible. Greg, nice guy then and now, but never should have beat challenging for the world belt. The Nasty Boys never should have been losing to Wahoo and Baron, Zenk should be pinning Billy Robinson and Ray Stevens should have not been wrestling at the time. It's easy to say it now, but give Zenk a run for the title and maybe even win it depending on the crowd reactions, turn Kelly face as your version of Hogan, that's just two on this card. Most of all keep anyone off TV that gets continuous boring chants. Brad Rheingans, legitimate talent but you could almost imagine the people going to sleep during his matches except when they were chanting boring. Of course had they done the right thing and gave Hogan the belt even the product we watch today might be totally different.

It was done way before then, the ESPN show just put it on a national stage for everyone to see it go downhill.

Yeah Foley didn't do much for me either. I just watched it on tape. I did laugh when he brought up the Dynamic Dudes and normally I could do without smart references but if he has to rely on that then he is hurting. When did Hornswaggle turn into the Great Kabuki? The Russian should shave his head and they could bring in Ivan Koloff as a manager, he could be his grandson.

You really need to post more often Maybe. Most of the time there is not a lot to add on the topics at least anything I could add.

Has Bobby Lashley turned up anywhere?

I agree. She is not used a lot in the Knockout Division, but it's good to have her with the group. I'm sure when they first brought her in, at the time there was no thought about having Guerrero with them. I think the bigger the group the better. I agree too, the more out there to interfere, the better.

Omaha's a non-smarky town though, so the people who were supposed to get cheered got cheered. The shows including Raw would be a lot better if fans didn't go there with the purpose of proving how smart they are.

That crowd doesn't help things. I'm sure most casual fans watching on TV are confused by the reactions.

Anytime the words angle or storyline were used, I did change the channel.

What are the ratings for the other Spike shows?

they should have enough girls for a tag title or maybe even a secondary singles title. Also I don't like females taking power bombs like that, call me chauvinist or whatever. I liked the show overall but I do wish they'd go at least a month or two without any heel or face turns or buildup to any.

Top 5 Horseman moments/actions. 1-Ric Flair retirement ceremony on Raw 2-Breaking Dusty Rhodes' arm 3-Beatdown on Kevin Sullivan after Benoit/Sullivan match in Baltimore 4-Ric Flair returns after suspension 5-Sting falls for it (several times)

Nothing at all pathetic about traveling to have a good time, see what sounds like a good promotion. What kind of shape was Raven in?

That's good to hear, I thought he was underrated as a monster heel. People remember that US title run that came out of nowhere but I remember some good matches he had as UWF champ before he hit the WWF. He showed a lot of personality as Akeem, sure that was silly but that's what the WWF was at that time.

How many who wrestled in those two territories are still active or semi-active? Off the top of my head I can think of Hacksaw Duggan, Rick Steiner, Shawn Michaels (jobber in the midsouth), Sting, Brad Armstrong, Jake Roberts, Kamala, Ricky Morton. Depending on their health, Bobby Eaton and Dennis Condrey might still be out there somewhere.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMSF0XHHpVk...feature=related 15 year old Terry Gordy in a mask. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wV59RhjMsfk...feature=related Riot! Those were the days when the fans actually gave a damn, weren't just there to boo the top face because it's cool to do so, start dueling chants and yell Fire Russo or What. A month before the hubbub, the NWF named Ernie Ladd as “Wrestler of the Year” for 1973. Ladd, a fan favorite in the NWF, received the honor before a tag team match at the Cleveland Arena that paired him with Johnny Powers, the popular North American champion, against The Sheik and Pampero Firpo. During the match, The Sheik smote Ladd with a set of brass knuckles, knocking him to the floor of the antiquated arena. The Sheik then joined Firpo to administer a brutal double-teaming to Powers. When a desperate Powers strained to tag his partner, Ladd was nowhere to be found. As Ladd shook off the cobwebs and worked his way to the ring apron, Powers berated him for his lack of support. “Where were you when I needed you?” he demanded. Powers then slugged Ladd, pulled him into the ring, and started punching, kicking, and elbowing his partner before leaving to a chorus of jeers. That was a classic angle that's been used a million times but nearly always worked. Baker was particularly alarmed that several fans clearly were wielding knives as he scurried up a flight of stairs to offices in the arena. “Nobody realized in the back, they chased me upstairs with knives. They were going to cut me.” http://www.steelbeltwrestling.com/index.ph...7&Itemid=38

Spike should run more marketing like the little things in the corner USA network has. If they really wanted to help the shows out they could run 30 second spots from time to time on CBS.

Hopefully he's in good enough shape or they're keeping his movement to a minimum. Nobody should go to these shows expecting veterans to do moonsaults, but if they go wanting to be entertained and for the nostalgia the old guys can still provide it.