What do you think of....

[Guest WrestlingDeacon]

With the recent thread about Lanny Poffo, I think it might be a neat idea to occaisionally post an older wrestler and get people's thoughts on him. Opinions, memories, what ever. I'll start off with Don Muraco.

 

I find this man to be a bit of an enigma to me. I've only seen some scant bits of his work which seemed pedestrian at best, although I know there was a time when he was on the cusp of the main event scene and could have easily been given a brief run with the WWF title. I also know that his work with Mr. Fuji was absolutely hilarious, if not counter productive to his image as a serious heel. And what was with him being managed by Billy Graham and pushed as the pride of Hawaii circe Wrestlemania IV? That didn't seem to last long.

 

If he was around today, he would be definetly be one of JR's hosses and most likely have the same sort of slot that Bradshaw has in the company.

[Guest lowavenue]

he was crap when he turned into 'The Rock!'

[Guest Sassquatch]

Don Muraco was at one point one of the best wrestler's in the old WWWF/WWF territory. His stint's in Portland, Hawaii and Florida helped get him noticed by the fans and promoters.

 

Don was a hard worker before he decided to get gassed off of steroids. Don had great stamina and endurance for someone his. The best aspect about Don was his ability to carry slobs and easily lost wrestlers to decent/great matches. His feud with Bob Backlund in 1980/1981 is a perfect example of Don doing a lot of the work while Bob was reigned in from his usual in-ring nuisances. Don's matches with Bob are regarded by a lot of critics as some of his best matches when he was the champ.

 

Don could have held onto the WWF title in 1980/1981 and he could have been a good draw as a monster heel champ. The WWF was lacking credible heels at that point sans for Greg Valentine, who could have actually held the belt and draw something with it.

 

A lot of fans remember Don for his feud with Roddy Piper and Gordon Solie in the Portland territory. That feud put Don in the spotlight and everywhere he went, the fans wanted to pay to see him get his ass kicked by anyone he was facing that night. The feud also helped launch Piper's monster face run in the Mid-Atlantic territory, which helped him win the NWA US title.

 

Don would make his opponents look good and was for the most part (before he was a roid stud) was never selfish and did not try/make his opponents look inferior. Don's timing for letting the babyface's make a comeback was impeccable as well. Unlike a lot of heels back in the late '70's/early '80's, Don knew how much offense he could get in before he would have to let the babyface gets his shots in and the fans responded accordingly.

 

Don's biggest accomplishment was carrying Pedro Morales to some of his best matches I have ever seen. I can not tell you all how bad of a wrestler Pedro was. He was being pushed as a title threat when it was blatantly obvious that he was a joke in the ring and was about as intimidating as a 65 year old Verne Gagne was. The matches with Pedro cemented Don's status as one of the best guys to have around if someone needed to have their hand held in the ring and not look like shit. Don's mannerisms in the ring were also a big part in gaining the Pedro matches heat and it paid off. Don took the spotlight off of Pedro's shitty wrestling and the only thing the fans noticed about Pedro was that he was kicking this asshole's ass. Pedro was still deplorable in the ring but that was an afterthought for the fans because all they wanted to see was Don get his ass kicked.

 

Don's feud with Pedro Morales is an incredible feat and a testament to how good of a heel he was back in his prime.

 

Don was by no means a great wrestler but he was a very reliable one if a promoter needed someone to go out there and make one of the local babyface's a million bucks. Don would limit his moveset at times and that would hurt the match because he soon became repetitive with his vertical suplex, falling backdrop suplex, and piledriver. Don could also hold onto a headlock past it's point of effectiveness and would get into boring land.

 

It's actually very depressing to go back and look at how Don turned out when Hulkamania hit the country. Comparing Don Muraco 1988 to Don Muraco 1980 is like night and day.

 

I won't even get into his ECW run which was just another case of Don pissing on his legacy along with his "The Rock" run.

[Guest Grenouille]

I haven't seen all that much from the early 80's of Muraco, but what I've seen I've liked. I'll also admit to finding the TNT sketches with Muraco and Fuji a little funny too.

[Guest imajackoff?]

I think of Muraco's 2nd title reign as the glory days of the I-C title.

The Snuka feud in particular was pretty awesome. He was above average on the mic for the time also. Its sort of funny how his body changed during his career. After his IC title stint, he got grossly out of shape. Then he took a break and came back with the roided look he had during the "Rock" phase.

[cawthon777 0]

Muraco was certainly among the top 10 heels of the 80s - right up there with Piper, Orndorff, and Andre.

 

He had some incredible stamina and had a series of 60-minute draws with Backlund when both men were title holders. Once Hulkamania took off, Muraco took the Hulkster to the limit on several occasions (one of which being that throw away match on SNME where Bundy jumped Hogan which led to WM 2). I believe he and Hogan had a few cage matches to settle the feud. Muraco had dominated the WWF for years before Hogan even showed up and was a legit top contender for quite a while.

 

I know the WWF used to send him to Toronto's Maple Leaf Garden several times a year back in 82 or so, to both defend the IC title and fight for the Canadian Heavyweight Title. This was before the Garden was exclusive WWF property. So on a single card, you would see guys from the NWA like Flair and Race, maybe Bockwinkel from the AWA, and the WWF representatives would be Backlund and Muraco.

 

It's pretty clear to see Muraco's downfall when you look at his status year to year:

 

1982 - top contender to world title, IC champ

 

1983 - cage match with Snuka - one of the greatest cage moments ever, wins the match and technically the feud

 

1984 - loses IC belt to Santana

 

1985 - top contender to Hogan - probably his last good year

 

1986 - WM2 throw away with Orndorff (Hogan's 2nd fiddle at the time)

 

1987 - stuck in a tag team with Bob Orton, turns face, comes to Superstar Billy Graham's aid against Butch Reed & One Man Gang

 

1988 - advances in the WM4 tournament controversially, loses to Dibiase, jobs to Dino Bravo in a very short match at Summer Slam, leaves shortly before Survivor Series

[Guest MillenniumMan831]

That SummerSlam w/ Bravo was actually 7-8 minutes, but Coliseum hacked it to seemingly 45 seconds. Cool summary though.

[Guest Slingshot Suplex]

I never really liked him. I thought he was kinda boring and plodding. The angle where he roughs up Gordon Solie and the Piper save is pretty good