WWE "Silent Protest"?

[BoysFan4ever]

No matter what mistakes the NWA made back then, they made sure the World Championship title was important.

Vince treats the World Title like a piece of trash.

I don't understand why their "champion" is someone who is rarely on.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

He looks like a tough guy. Never heard of him so I just learned something!

You need to get up to speed on Harley Race...

http://www.amazon.com/King-Ring-Har...F8&qid=1419174094&sr=8-1&keywords=harley+race

He's one of the few guys who had body slammed Andre "the Giant".

 

[MichaelWinicki]

I don't understand why their "champion" is someone who is rarely on.

It's always been that way going back to the early days of the WWWF.

We hardly ever saw Bruno, or "Superstar" or Backlund on TV.

I think it was to give the champion a bit of mystique.

Back then the WWWF only covered about 5 states so it wasn't like the champion could rotate throughout all the territories like in the NWA (who was also traveling extensively to Puerto Rico, Australia and Japan). So the WWWF had to keep their champ off of regular TV as much as possible.

About the only time you saw the champ wrestle on TV was when there was some sort of "angle" going on like an attack during an interview or a "buddy" turning against him during a tag-match.

 

[Risen Star]

You need to get up to speed on Harley Race...

http://www.amazon.com/King-Ring-Harley-Race-Story/dp/1613212119/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1419174094&sr=8-1&keywords=harley race

He's one of the few guys who had body slammed Andre "the Giant".

When Andre weighed significantly less than when Hogan and the Warrior slammed him.

Stan Hansen slammed Andre too when he was a lot slimmer.

 

[BoysFan4ever]

Ok I don't like Cena but I saw him pick up Big Show & put him on his shoulders.

He must be very strong although I think his wrestling stinks.

Wouldn't that be comparable to this Andre stuff?

 

[BoysFan4ever]

It's always been that way going back to the early days of the WWWF.

We hardly ever saw Bruno, or "Superstar" or Backlund on TV.

I think it was to give the champion a bit of mystique.

Back then the WWWF only covered about 5 states so it wasn't like the champion could rotate throughout all the territories like in the NWA (who was also traveling extensively to Puerto Rico, Australia and Japan). So the WWWF had to keep their champ off of regular TV as much as possible.

About the only time you saw the champ wrestle on TV was when there was some sort of "angle" going on like an attack during an interview or a "buddy" turning against him during a tag-match.

Something doesn't look right about Brock. When I see clips of him in a match he looks like he's about to pass out. He doesn't look like a healthy guy to me.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

When Andre weighed significantly less than when Hogan and the Warrior slammed him.

Stan Hansen slammed Andre too when he was a lot slimmer.

No question, but Andre was still a 400lb+ guy, even in the late 70's.

Stan Hansen is one of those guys that doesn't get the props he deserves, probably because he spent so much time wrestling in Japan.

Out of all the tag-teams I watched, Hansen and Brody are at the top of the list. Just two huge men and an incredible amount of motion in a match.... Which had to be that way with Hansen because he was very near-sighted. The result was he was always pummeling, kicking, kneeing. He couldn't let his opponent stray too far from him or he couldn't see what he was doing.

 

[lothos05]

It's always been that way going back to the early days of the WWWF.

We hardly ever saw Bruno, or "Superstar" or Backlund on TV.

I think it was to give the champion a bit of mystique.

Back then the WWWF only covered about 5 states so it wasn't like the champion could rotate throughout all the territories like in the NWA (who was also traveling extensively to Puerto Rico, Australia and Japan). So the WWWF had to keep their champ off of regular TV as much as possible.

About the only time you saw the champ wrestle on TV was when there was some sort of "angle" going on like an attack during an interview or a "buddy" turning against him during a tag-match.

I think you're right about the WWWF champion holding an aura of mystery, especially back in the late '70's when I first started watching wrestling. I don't recall seeing the champ on TV much. In fact, my first memory (albeit foggy) was when Bruno wrestled Superstar in a cage match in Philadelphia--man, was I disappointed when he kicked Superstar out of the cage door. It wasn't televised but it was on PRISM, which I remember it for being sports-heavy programming.

I don't recall seeing any WWWF championship matches outside of watching it on PRISM or waiting up until the 11:00pm news to see the results from MSG. Yep, they actually reported wrestling results on the news! Well, at least when Backlund lost to the Iron Shiek in the early '80's.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

I think you're right about the WWWF champion holding an aura of mystery, especially back in the late '70's when I first started watching wrestling. I don't recall seeing the champ on TV much. In fact, my first memory (albeit foggy) was when Bruno wrestled Superstar in a cage match in Philadelphia--man, was I disappointed when he kicked Superstar out of the cage door. It wasn't televised but it was on PRISM, which I remember it for being sports-heavy programming.

I don't recall seeing any WWWF championship matches outside of watching it on PRISM or waiting up until the 11:00pm news to see the results from MSG. Yep, they actually reported wrestling results on the news! Well, at least when Backlund lost to the Iron Shiek in the early '80's.

Great story!

I use to get the Houston Sunday paper in the early 80's (long story there, because I was living in western NY at the time) but they reported the local wrestling results from the area, which was AWA territory for the most part.

 

[lothos05]

Great story!

I use to get the Houston Sunday paper in the early 80's (long story there, because I was living in western NY at the time) but they reported the local wrestling results from the area, which was AWA territory for the most part.

Nice way to keep updated! Is that why you kept the Houston paper?

I was a fan of Ric Flair, Harley Race and Antonio Inoki back then as well. The only way to keep up with them was to have my Mom drop me off at the pharmacy buy comic books and read all of the wrestling magazines.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

Nice way to keep updated! Is that why you kept the Houston paper?

I was a fan of Ric Flair, Harley Race and Antonio Inoki back then as well. The only way to keep up with them was to have my Mom drop me off at the pharmacy buy comic books and read all of the wrestling magazines.

Prior to getting a big "channel bump" and suddenly getting TBS (Georgia Championship Wrestling) and other channels back in 1982... we had been receiving 3 wresting programs for several years...

The one on the longest was on CHCH out of the Toronto area. This was a Frank Tunney/Whipper Billy Watson promotion that was original part of the original Sheik's territory (Detroit/Cleveland/Buffalo/Toronto), which was loosely affiliated with the NWA.

The second longest one was the WWWF show that shown at midnight on Saturday nights on WOR out of NYC.

The third was on a Buffalo TV station Saturday afternoons and was the NWA Mid-Atlantic area show– this by far was the best of the 3. Ric Flair, Ricky Steamboat, Jimmy Snuka, Blackjack Mulligan, Paul Jones, Ole & Gene Anderson... It was just an amazing array of talent.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

Nice way to keep updated! Is that why you kept the Houston paper?

Noooo.

I trying to get into the oil & gas business back then and I thought the Houston paper would have some leads.

 

[big dog cowboy]

Prior to getting a big "channel bump" and suddenly getting TBS (Georgia Championship Wrestling) and other channels back in 1982... we had been receiving 3 wresting programs for several years...

The one on the longest was on CHCH out of the Toronto area. This was a Frank Tunney/Whipper Billy Watson promotion that was original part of the original Sheik's territory (Detroit/Cleveland/Buffalo/Toronto), which was loosely affiliated with the NWA.

The second longest one was the WWWF show that shown at midnight on Saturday nights on WOR out of NYC.

The third was on a Buffalo TV station Saturday afternoons and was the NWA Mid-Atlantic area show– this by far was the best of the 3. Ric Flair, Ricky Steamboat, Jimmy Snuka, Blackjack Mulligan, Paul Jones, Ole & Gene Anderson... It was just an amazing array of talent.

I soooooooo remember when TBS started showing wrestling back in '82. Ted Turner was the man back then. Rasslin' was light years better than today even without all the glitz and glamour.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

I soooooooo remember when TBS started showing wrestling back in '82. Ted Turner was the man back then. Rasslin' was light years better than today even without all the glitz and glamour.

It had a air-of-seriousness about it that today is replaced by silliness.

The talent base was so much wider then with a wide variety of styles as dictated by the number of wrestling schools/tutors working at the time BUT as Rich as pointed out, now everyone coming up into the WWE has a similar style.

Back then you excited because someone like Bruiser Brody or Ray Stephens or The Freebirds, the Great Kabuki were coming into your territory and you already knew something about them... but now a guy comes in from the WWE minor's and it's a big yawn. I mean the guy hasn't proven himself anywhere, you haven't read about him having a feud with another top-ranked wrestler... He's a nothing.

Also tag-team wrestling was light-years better than it is now.

 

[Phoenix]

Saw a funny today, which fits in with tonight's RAW:

WATCHA GONNA DO WHEN HULK HOGAN TRIES TO STAY RELEVANT WITH YOU

 

[BoysFan4ever]

I am trying to watch RAW but it is so awful tonight I am about to switch it off.

Some midget just beat that Golddust guy. Seriously why would they write that?

 

[jrumann59]

Diesel/Keven Nash is 6'11" almost 7' and the Big Show/Giant is supposed to be 7'4", I do not see it. Nash was more of brawler, not a lot of technical things in his arsenal, he had bad knees from his days playing BB at UT. He was never a flag bearer champ and I actually think he was OK with that, he was at his best as an enforcer type and the nWo/Wolfpac/Kliq catered to his personality better. I think he liked being a semi heel.

 

[TellerMorrow34]

No matter what mistakes the NWA made back then, they made sure the World Championship title was important.

Vince treats the World Title like a piece of trash.

Which is absolutely a MAJOR part of the issue with his product at this point.

 

[TellerMorrow34]

Diesel/Keven Nash is 6'11" almost 7' and the Big Show/Giant is supposed to be 7'4", I do not see it. Nash was more of brawler, not a lot of technical things in his arsenal, he had bad knees from his days playing BB at UT. He was never a flag bearer champ and I actually think he was OK with that, he was at his best as an enforcer type and the nWo/Wolfpac/Kliq catered to his personality better. I think he liked being a semi heel.

he definitely liked being the semi-heel and was clearly more than happy to just be the enforcer guy behind the main guy. It's why his best stuff was either with Shawn as his body guard and buddy and as one of the Outsiders who enforced for Hollywood Hogan.

Nash has always been very open about the fact that he was all about money, making money, and doing things that were different and weren't "wrestling norm" stuff.

 

[jrumann59]

he definitely liked being the semi-heel and was clearly more than happy to just be the enforcer guy behind the main guy. It's why his best stuff was either with Shawn as his body guard and buddy and as one of the Outsiders who enforced for Hollywood Hogan.

Nash has always been very open about the fact that he was all about money, making money, and doing things that were different and weren't "wrestling norm" stuff.

He gets dogged about that. I am sorry while wrestling is entertainment the toll it takes on the body is devastating you need to make as much money in the window you are given.