Scroby 0 Report post Posted May 31, 2004 Looking Back: Some Cool Moments May 29, 2004 I was sitting in the locker room after TV this week telling stories to the boys in OVW. I guess it's official, I'm the old timer of the locker room. While telling stories one of the guys asked me whom, over the years, I've considered it to be an honour to be in the ring with. I don't like the wording of it being an honour but there were definitely a few guys I thought it was pretty cool to have wrestled. I will try to do these in order so I don't skip any, so this is in chronological more than in order of importance. Jushin Thunder Liger: When I first broke in I started watching tapes of all the great Jr. Heavyweights working for New Japan Pro Wrestling. Liger was considered the best and I loved watching his stuff. His matches with Benoit among others were amazing. When I worked for WAR (96-97) in Japan I held the IJ Tag Team Titles with Yuji Yasuroka, and we had two occasions to wrestle Jushin Liger and El Samurai. The first occasion we lost the belts but regained them the second. For the most part I put both matches together in their entirety and being in the ring with the premier Jr. Heavyweight and holding my own was a great moment for me. Our rematch we actually headline a Korekean Hall show in Tokyo and it is one of my all time favourite matches. The Original Tiger Mask (Satoro Sayama): In addition to the current great Japanese Jr. Heavyweights I watched tapes of the greats from the past. My all time favourite Japanese matches are those between The Dynamite Kid and Tiger Mask. These matches were so ahead of their time, they would still be matches that push the envelope today. I had the chance to wrestle Tiger mask in the Sumo Arena in Tokyo Japan. In front of a sold out (about 18,000 I think) arena, Yasu and I defended our IJ Tag Titles against Tiger Mask and Mochizuki (another WAR regular). Tiger mask was likely 45 at the time and looked his age and quite pudgy, yet was still the fastest guy I was ever in the ring with. This match was truly an honour. Abdullah the Butcher: I had a couple single matches with Abby when working for WAR. I was never a big fan of Abby's but my Grandfather is a wrestling fan from way back when, and my wrestling Abby was a big deal for him, which made it cool for me. It was also a nice test of my ability seeing that there was definitely a style clash. Terry Funk: Everyone should know about this one, I think my last archived commentary was about it. I've always liked Terry Funk, both as a performer and as a person. I have a world of respect for the man, and getting to wrestle Terry Funk in his hometown was one of the coolest moments of my career, and may be my favourite match. Sting: Before I broke into the business Sting was one of my favourite performers. I got to know him a little bit while we were in WCW together and I really enjoyed the match we had. For a good Heel he is the perfect Baby Face. It was a special moment for me and I even got a huge compliment from Ric Flair after the match. If you are curious what Ric said, you'll have to wait for my book. An interesting note about the match I will share. I remember reading an internet report after the match where they buried Sting for leaving the ring so fast after the match, stating that it was disrespectful to me that he treat the win like it didn't matter. Truth was 3 segments later in the show he had to repel from the ceiling to interfere in the main event and had maybe 15 minutes to get out of the ring, get up into the rafters, harness up and hit his cue. He was rushing because he had to, not because he didn't care about the match. That was also the reason why when he repelled and landed on the top of the cage match in the main event he was late and it seemed awkward. Who ever was booking the show didn't allow Sting enough time to prepare for the stunt. Hulk Hogan: Oddly enough I was never a Hogan fan, but getting to work with quite probably the biggest name in the history of the business was really cool. I was at WrestleMania 4 and 5 in Atlantic City as a fan, and I got to wrestled Hulk Hogan in that very building during my Un-American run. I even fed the Famous Hulking Up comeback that night. All of my wrestling fan buddies from High School called me after that one because it was a real Land Mark moment in my career for them. Hogan was so much fun to work with and I'd be lying if I said beating Edge and Hulk Hogan for the WWE Tag Team Titles isn't a cool memory. Ric Flair: I've always wanted to wrestle Ric Flair, and thankfully I managed one tag match with the nature Boy in my career. It was a Tag Team Title defence for Christian and I at a house show in Pitsburgh, PA, and we defended against Ric Flair and The Undertaker. As glad as I was to get my Flair match I didn't care much for the match itself. In my opinion Flair isn't a baby face and working him in that capacity wasn't as much fun. A single match with him the Heel me the Face would have been so much more special. Oddly enough this single match almost happened. Before WrestleMania 18 in Toronto Ric had asked me if I'd be willing to get in the ring with him so he could work off a little ring rust. We managed to find time to workout and take a few bumps before a couple TV tapings, but we did plan on having a full match at Sky Dome the day before WrestleMania. It was going to be the match that nobody saw and was going to be one of the favourites of my career. Unfortunately they had access problems with the building and didn't get the ring up a couple days early like they had originally planned. The match never happened. Definitely one of my career regrets, having that match would have been so cool. Well that's it for another week, I'll try to do one on the guys I've most enjoyed working over my career next. Lance Credit:Stormwrestling.com Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
iliketurtles 0 Report post Posted May 31, 2004 Intresting about the Flair/Storm match at Skydome. Who knows what that may have led too if certain people with power saw how good it probably could of been. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Internet Warfare 0 Report post Posted May 31, 2004 I never knew about his match with Flair. Really cool. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Steviekick 0 Report post Posted May 31, 2004 It's stuff like this that makes me sad that Lance retired and really got nowhere in his WWE stint. The good thing is I'm sure he will do a hell of a job with the guys he's training. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Choken One Report post Posted May 31, 2004 Does he ever shut up? For such a "boring" guy...he sure loves to talk. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
The Mandarin 0 Report post Posted May 31, 2004 Flair/Storm would be interesting. Too bad we'll never see it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Dazed Report post Posted May 31, 2004 Does he ever shut up? For such a "boring" guy...he sure loves to talk. Irony + 1 If you don't have anything to say, don't bother posting. kthx. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
