That “filler” scared the WWE so much they had to send out Heyman last night to give one of his best performances ever in order to remind everyone that Cody vs Roman is important and shouldn’t be overshadowed by Zayns popularity.
Let's go old- school for a minute. I am sure that many of us are old enough to remember when Hulk Hogan shocked the world and joined the rulebreaking stable The New World Order in 1996. At that time many young wrestling fans only knew Hogan as a fan favorite from his long stint in the WWF and then in WCW, aside from his cameo appearance in the 1982 film Rocky III as the rulebreaking world champion Thunderlips. They had no idea Hogan had been a hated rulebreaker in his early years in the territories, that history had been erased. And if they did know, they chalked it up to youthful indiscretion, and certainly in no way representing the paragon of virtue Hogan had been since winning the WWF title in 1984 and earlier. But my question is, does anyone remember that about a year before joining the hated NWO Hogan teased a turn to rulebreaking? No one ever talks about this and I suspect everyone involved including Hogan has probably forgotten this. This was when Hogan, Lex Luger and Sting were the big fan favorites in WCW and their egos started to cause jealousy and conflict between each other. As I recall, Randy Savage entered the picture at some point, of course making things worse as one might expect. Anyway it was looking like Hogan had turned bad. He started appearing in dark ring attire and calling out Sting and Luger in interviews, though I don't think he ever actually did any cheap shots, but he may have wrestled one of them. This went on for maybe 2 or 3 weeks and then suddenly Hogan came back to his senses and went back to the familiar "good guy" yellow. As I recall he put the dark colors in the trash on TV to reassure the fans he was NOT turning bad. And then of course, 1 year later history was made.
I remember the trashing of the dark Hulk. I thought they were going to try for tweener status. Failed of course, that has to be organic to work.
Hogan was getting booed in 1995 in many WCW towns so why not give it a try. If I remember correctly it also coordinated with him shaving his mustache for a movie role. Hogan had that match with Sting in Macon, GA on Nitro which was so dumb. They gave away the 1st ever Hogan vs Luger and Hogan vs Sting matches for free on TV. It was a weird time because at the November PPV, Hogan burned a copy of Dave Meltzer's Wrestling Observer saying it was false reporting that Randy Savage had an arm injury when it was obvious that one of Savage's arms was half the size of the other and they were doing a storyline with his arm being injured to cover for it.
I don't remember that, but I think I had a lot going on in 1995 and tuned out of wrestling for much of that year. The interesting thing about Hogan's actual turn at Bash at the Beach is that there was no fake-out from him when he walked out. Yes, he was wearing the red and yellow, but he didn't pander to the fans or do his usual good guy shtick before the turn. He was in full heel mode if you look at his face and body language from the second we see him walking out. I remember everyone at work talking about it the next day. Even some of the guys who rarely or never watched pro wrestling were talking about the ultimate guy Hulk Hogan suddenly becoming a bad guy. It was wild. And it felt real (even though it was obviously kayfabe).
First show I ever attended live was a Jarrett Promotions show in 1987 headlined by Jerry Lawler vs Austin Idol.
I remember my dad taking me to see wrestling at the old Olympia stadium in Detroit in 1979. I had been watching it on TV for several years and was very excited. I enjoyed it overall. But one thing that disappointed me was when the 1st match started and I realized the ring announcers would not be calling the action. EDIT: Randy Savage lost to Captain Ed George and Mark Lewin was in a match. Main event, The Sheik defeated Gino Hernandez.
Memphis wrestling from the TV studio with Lance Russell and Dave Brown calling the insanity is as good as TV wrestling gets.
Biographies The season premiere will explore the infamous group NWO with other Legends featured this season including Jake “The Snake” Roberts, Chyna, Dusty Rhodes, Kane, and Iron Sheik. Rivals The season begins with examining Hulk Hogan vs. Andre The Giant, and will explore other rivalries including “Stone Cold” Steve Austin vs. Bret Hart, Undertaker vs. Mankind, The Rock vs. John Cena, Triple H vs. Batista, Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns, and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin vs. Shawn Michaels. They knocked out a few of my wants for biographies. Still want Sgt Slaughter Ted Dibiase Superstar Billy Graham RVD Jerry Lawler
I have fond memories from about 20 years ago, someone sent me a few wrestling tapes of Memphis from about 1981-87, still remember how enjoyable Bill and Buddy were along with everything else.
https://www.f4wonline.com/news/ring-of-honor/tony-khan-reveals-premiere-date-for-weekly-roh-tv https://www.f4wonline.com/news/aew/...push-forward-with-tonights-aew-dynamite-match
If any Pedro Morales, Chief Jay Strongbow, Ivan Koloff, Toru Tanaka, Crazy Luke Graham era posts appear, tag me.
