Here is the latest on Scott Hall. video from Saturday night in Orlando. http://pwtorch.com/artman2/publish/Other_News_4/article_50706.shtml
I've seen him listed from 6'5" to 6'7". But since he's had mutiple surgeries in the past, he's probably around 6'3" - 6'4" now. Wrestling is full of exaggerations, so who really knows for sure. If you remember him in Rocky 3 as Thunderlips he was listed at 7 feet tall.
That is sad indeed. That poster had a good point about the pension plan. I had read that was one of the perks for guys signing with WCW was that Turner Broadcasting offered health insurance as an employee benefit. FYI, Jesse Ventura, in the 80's when he was with the WWF, had attempted to start a union for wrestlers. Someone had leaked the info to McMahon unfortunately and Jesse was never able to organize a union. Years later, Jesse found out that the guy who leaked the info was Hulk Hogan.
I don't think he has much longer. Some people just can't overcome their personal demons and you can't save someone who doesn't want to be saved.
I had heard all of this, except for the part that it was Hogan who leaked the info. That's not 100% shocking, but I'm just surprised that I hadn't heard that part.
Jesse on the business practices of the WWE. http://m.youtube.com/?client=mv-google&rdm=4mvi3lot0#/watch?v=FI_yosDAfOs
Here's a wrestling story. I was in attendance so I attest to these events. The NWA brought a show to town and I HAD to be there. The main event would be Ric Flair defending the world title against Ronnie Garvin. I hadn't seen an NWA title match since I left Texas over a year before. But this is about a match on the under card that night. Pez Whatley Jr was in the middle of a medium push in this odd afro character Shaska Watley, a heel. He came out and the crowd began to just roar. He didn't get it at first. Then it dawned on him and he said something to the referee. When he took off the ring attire "Shaska" was gone and in his place stood Pistol Pez Whatley Jr. You see his dad was a favorite for a lot of years in Detroit and we were honoring the son of an old friend(who had put some time in here as well as a youngster). For tonight at least he was the babyface as he did, one more time, all his dad's signature moves as well as some of his own best moves from several years. He got a huge standing pop from the crowd at Cobo Arena and was grinning the biggest smile I'd ever seen. Oh yeah Flair lost the belt to Garvin in the cage.
We were talking about Hogan in Japan. Understand that the Japanese wrestling culture is a whole 'nother animal. Hogan WORKS there because the Japanese fans would not accept the typical US Hogan match. Even Abdullah the Butcher uses wrestling holds when in Japan(which I STILL find bizarre). I have tape of Hogan vs Antonio Inoki that left my jaw on the floor when I saw it. Hogan chain wrestling and working holds. It was surreal.
Jamie, let be the first to thank you for your really cool stories and insights in this thread. I seem to remember seeing that NWA title change match with Flair and Ronnie Garvin on a tv show. Was that a PPV show, by any chance? Re: Hogan in Japan. The difference between pro wrestling in Japan and pro wrestling in the US does seem to be different. I would be curious to know a bit of the history of wrestling in Japan and how that style evolved.
It was a house show that they had taped because of the title switch. It was shown on TBS saturday 6:05 show. Oddly Garvin never defended the belt against anyone else being involved in tag matches until losing the strap back to Flair. The match I'm talking about is on the Ultimate Ric Flair Collection set as an easter egg.
OK I got the wrong set. It's actually on the greatest cage matches set. Here are the instructions to see it. Bonus Clip: In Disk 1, highlight the Ronnie Garvin v. Ric Flair match in the Chapters menu, and press your Right button, and you'll get the "live update" footage from World Championship Wrestling when Garvin won the title in Detroit.
Just thought I'd point out that there are several great wrestling videos available for streaming on Netflix. Watched the first part of a Ricky Steamboat bio last night. HD as well.
I grew up watching wrestling on Saturday mornings on one of the UHF affiliates, probably early 80s. Not sure what the show was called but remember Gordon Solie provided commentary. Don't remember many of the wrestlers -- Tommy Rich, Buzz Sawyer, Larry Zbysko, Mr. Wrestling II. The Road Warriors were huge. Caught a show at Public Hall. Don't remember much other than one of the conditions of the main event was that the loser was supposed to have his head shaved. All the boys at my catholic grade school were very into wrestling. Then WWF replaced this programming. Superfly, Junkyard Dog, King Kong Bundy, Don Muraco, Ted Dibiase, Roddy Piper, eventually Hogan. Hogan was huge. I remember seeing WWF at Richfield Coliseum. Hogan was so over it was amazing. Would have been probably 85/86 or so. Was buying magazines, etc. Pretty much abandoned wrestling thru high school, college, and law school. My younger brother started telling me about it and I got sucked in again around 2000. I loved the Rock. Was surprised by the ratcheted-up violence and sex. Certainly wasn't as kid-friendly as I remembered. My brother and his friends were huge fans. We even went to Wrestlemania 17 (Houston, 2000) with them and Wrestlemania 18 (Toronto, 2001). Fantastic times. Attended most (all?) events at Gund Arena as well. After the WCW/WWE merger things seemed to go downhill and I lost interest again. Probably haven't watched an entire wrestling show since 2002. Think about getting Wrestlemania PPV every year but haven't pulled the trigger. Well.... my 8 year old son recently received a copy of WWE All-Stars for Xbox 360. He loves the game and I think he'd enjoy watching the shows. Maybe I'll take another look and see if it's something I think would be appropriate.
Are you thinking of Tiger Conway Jr.? He was Pez/Shaska Whatley's partner in The Jive Tones tag team.
You know, sometimes I DO need to double check my memory. The story above is true with the exception of dropping the Jr. It was Pez himself who started here in Detroit, in 1975. Damn, I AM getting old.
For those interested; http://www.thehistoryofwwe.com has complete WWWF/WWF/WWE match results by year going back to the 70's.
I was going to ask if that house show synopsis was printed in an Apter mag. That WWE history site also includes complete show histories for Jim Crockett/WCW and ECW. BTW, that Flair job to Ronnie took place in Jow Louis Arena, according to that website. FYI, the entire match is on you tube.
I remember when ECW first appeared on one of Cox's public stations. Very lunatic fringe of wrestling. Reminded me of the stuff WCW and WWF wanted to do but did not.
Your story cannot be true. "Pistol" Pez Whatley never had a father who was a wrestler. Nor has he ever been called Jr. So your story isnt making any sense. You are confusing him with Tiger Conway Jr.
OK here it is. I have been telling that story for 25 years. Somewhere along the way I conflated two things. First i mixed up Joe Louis and Cobo(I'm sure I saw Sgt Slaughter vs Iron Sheik close to that time at Cobo). That would have been my first time at the Joe. Secondly, in the years following I conflated Tiger Conway Jr and Pez Whatley. I checked out the results myself and was more than surprised my memory was off. The story Is true It was Tiger Conway Jr. He was in the tag team with Shaska. When I'm shooting from the hip here I don't factcheck my self. But I WILL peruse that site again.