Correction From Your Latest Rant

[Guest Sting Fanatic]

"- The Great Gama v. Chris Benoit. We’re JIP at 10:00. This is from 1988, and it’s Benoit’s first shot at the Commonwealth Mid-Heavyweight title. I always find it funny that people talk about Benoit needing to “pay his dues” when he’s been in the business far longer than anyone currently in the WWF outside of Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan. Benoit drops an elbow, and gets a running version. Sharpshooter (a year before Sting “debuted” the move in the US) but Gama pulls the tights to break."

 

You never listed a specific date on this match, but it is a known fact that Sting was using the Scorpion Deathlock/Sharpshooter submission hold as far back as February 1988.  Do you not remember the Sting/Flair match with Flair doing a stretcher job via the Scorpion that set up the 45 minute Draw at the first Clash?  You did a review of Clash I so I'm certain you must.

 

Minor error.  Even I don't know the specific date Sting debuted the move.  But, hey, at least your not one of the people who think Bret invented the thing when he never even pulled it out of his arsenal until 1991 (unless he used it pre-WWF; maybe you know this).

 

Adios.

[Guest Scotsman]

The Rock invented the sharpshooter didn't he?

[Guest Don Becker]

I remember it being used in the WWF pre-Sting, because the move wasn't entirely foreign to me when I first saw Sting do it.  But for the life of me I don't remember who used it.

 

Of course, the first guy to use it regularly that I can think of is Riki Chosyu, who used it quite a bit in the early-mid 1980's.  But that was Japan, and that doesn't really count in this argument.

[Guest Scott Keith]

Minor error.  Even I don't know the specific date Sting debuted the move.  But, hey, at least your not one of the people who think Bret invented the thing when he never even pulled it out of his arsenal until 1991 (unless he used it pre-WWF; maybe you know this).

Benoit was doing the move in Stampede almost as soon as he debuted in 1987, well before Sting was even in the NWA.  He likely learned it from Dynamite, who picked it up in Japan.

[Guest Some Guy]

Adrian Adonis used the Sharpshooter on the WWF Wrestling Classic PPV in Nov. 1985.  3 years before Benoit.

[Guest Scott Keith]

Adrian Adonis used the Sharpshooter on the WWF Wrestling Classic PPV in Nov. 1985.  3 years before Benoit.

Actually, Adonis used a Grapevine, which is more like a Liontamer than a Sharpshooter and is done standing upright as opposed to sitting on the back.  The point of the move is to stress the legs, not the back.  

 

At any rate, I have tapes from the 50s where the Scorpion is used and it's called a "Deadlock", so it's been around longer than either Benoit or Sting anyway.

[Guest The Masked Yodeler]

Where were those tapes from, and who was using it?

[Guest Brian]

Rdozan used it didn't he. I think he tried to pull it out in the Thesz match, but I haven't seen that in a while.

[Guest Scott Keith]

Where were those tapes from, and who was using it?

They were these shitty-quality tapes called "Golden Age Of Wrestling" that I got from K-Mart like 10 years ago.  Cost me about $5 each -- one covers "Heroes", one covers "Villains".  It's all footage from what I think was the DuMont network shows in the early 50s, with guys like Sammy Steamboat and Lou Albano back when he was a mafia hood character.  I *think*, and don't quote me on this because I haven't actually watched the tapes since I was 18, that it was either Eduardo Carpentier or Rocca who did the move, but I'm not even 50% sure of that one.  

 

I might actually do a review pretty soon, just for shits and giggles.

[Guest Madmartigan21]

Actually, Adonis used a Grapevine, which is more like a Liontamer than a Sharpshooter and is done standing upright as opposed to sitting on the back.  The point of the move is to stress the legs, not the back.  

From WWF Wrestling Classic 1985.11.07  

Review by Scott Keith:

 

- Dynamite Kid v. Adrian Adonis. Kid works fast with armdrags, and Adonis bails. Adonis catches the Kid with a boot, and slingshots him into the corner for two. Vertical suplex gets two, and Adonis hits the chinlock. The Kid backdrops out, but a splash misses. Adonis works the knee and goes to…a Sharpshooter?! A really bad one, sure, but it’s the same move.

 

Another inconsistency in your writing.  Now THERE'S a real shocker.

[Guest The Masked Yodeler]

Scott, I would love to see those reviews.  That would be really interesting material, the complete antithesis of sports entertainment.

[Guest Scott Keith]

Another inconsistency in your writing.  Now THERE'S a real shocker.

Um, excuse me, but in episode FG08, Itchy played Scratchy's ribs like a xylophone, but at one point clearly hit the same rib twice, yet produced two different notes!  Heh...I hope someone got fired over that one!

 

- Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie.

 

Man, that episode gets funnier every time I watch it.

 

And FYI, you're quoting from a review written like three years ago, and someone e-mailed me noting the difference in moves soon after.

[Guest Madmartigan21]

Back up the truck.

 

You're drawing an analogy between me pointing out your apparent inability to properly identify a move you've seen countless times, and ficticious cartoon nitpickers?  I didn't even remember that review of yours until someone in a previous message pointed out that Adonis used it.  It triggered a memory from that review, so I ACTUALLY went and looked it up.  What an outlandish concept. I used my ability to retain what I read.  It was quite a difficult skill to learn and master.  But I serioulsy recommend you try attempting it someday.

 

Aren't you supposed to be some kind of well of wrestling knowledge?  It would be bad enough if you had just seen Sting, Bret Hart, and Owen Hart  use the move time and time again over the years in the NWA/WCW and the WWF.  But you also grew up watching Stampede and saw it many more times there.  And YOU couldn't identify whether the move Adonis used was a Sharpshooter or not.  I don't care if you wrote the review three years ago or ten years ago.  Either it was or it wasn't a Sharpshooter and the fact that you couldn't tell the difference is inexecusable, especially for someone that gets on announcers often enough for miscalling moves.  

 

What a fuckin' joke.

[Guest The Masked Yodeler]

Everyone screws up once in a while, Madmartigan21.  Even good ol' JR calls moves by the wrong name sometimes.  So what if Scott miscalled a submission move one time, and then discovered that he had miscalled it.  Pobody's Nerfect.