I've been expecting this. Last I heard he had months to live. ITS TIME! ITS TIME! ITS VADER TIME!!!! RIP Leon
Not counting Baby Bull in the AWA, the first time I saw Vader was Great American Bash '90 on pay per view. Loved his work.
One of my first celebrity encounters- although I didn’t know it at the time- was sharing an elevator with Vader shortly before he debuted in WCW. After the fact, my brother and I were like, “Who the heck was that monster that looked like both Road Warriors combined into one guy?” Our jaws dropped, of course, when he showed up on our TV a coupla weeks later.
I'm enjoying the Conrad and Eric Bischoff podcast 83 Weeks. It inspired me to go on the Network and start watching Nitro from the beginning. Since I didn't have cable during the first year of it, it's cool to see the pre-NWO era.
Looks like Freddie Blassie. EDIT: I don't know about the other guy he has in a hold. I thought it might be Rikidozan, but I don't think he ever had long hair as a pro wrestler.
I’m at the tail end of my free month of the WWE Network. I’ve really enjoyed watching some of the PPVs from when I was a big fan (later 80’s - early 2000’s). Between this and the Something to Wrestle podcast my wrestling interest has been piqued. Unfortunately, I watched a recent Raw and it was hard to get into. Is the new WWE product worth getting into or should I stick with the classics?
The network and Bruce’s podcast I feel has helped rekindle interest from us older wrestling fans. Unfortunately the current product isn’t really keeping me captive, save some current roster guys though.
My personal opinion for whatever it is worth - NXT is the best of the three brands, and has been for quite some time. The main roster shows are bloated and repetitive, and the PPVs are impossibly long. NXT, by comparison, is a sleek sports car that moves quickly. The "Takeover" PPVs are invariably better than the main roster PPVs they accompany. That, to me, is the best place to seek something to "get into".
I think you're right (regarding Blassie).. Blassie certainly has the resume to be part of the opening sequence. I always thought of him as a buff guy (the picture in the intro is not particularly flattering), but looking through some pictures online today, he really wasn't, so yes, I think that's him.
I've pretty much given up on Raw and SD. I don't even read the re-caps anymore online. I'll be back tho, I will take a break then tune in to the first Raw after WM in 2019. Don't have the network but I am a classic fan as well. I have several of the DVD's they released (AWA, WCCW, etc - I was only interested in WWF in the 80's and thought everyone else was second class. Boy was I wrong, watching that stuff now is great. Even the bad stuff is enjoyable compared to today's stuff). I dunno if ESPN Classic still airs AWA but I used to watch it on there when everything was from the Showboat in Vegas. It was probably near the end of the promotion but even some of that stuff was great to watch then my cable company cut ESPN Classics and made it a pay extra channel. Didn't want to pay for it so I never had a chance to see those shows again.
I believe I stopped watching in 2002. Like I mentioned, the network and podcast left me nostalgic for some “sports entertainment”. I tried to watch a full episode of Raw, but it was painful. It was very clear they were going off a script. There seemed to be nothing spontaneous and it all fell flat. I wasn’t expecting Attitude-era WWE where anything goes, but something entertaining with good wrestling. I will have to check out NXT as I have heard good things. Until then, I will continue to rewatch the classic PPVs that my family couldn’t afford when I was a kid.
I stopped watching around 2000. Strange, because I loved 1997 and 98. I just stick with the older stuff on the Network, today I watched some Mid-South from 1982
I grew up on wrestling out of Georgia, Memphis and Southern Illinois. Georgia Championship Wrestling had Dusty Rhodes, Mr Wrestling I & II, Ric Flair, The Briscos Memphis had Jerry Lawler, The Freebirds, and Jimmy Hart Southern Illinois had Randy Savage, Leaping Lanny and The Miser (Angelo Poffo, Savage and Lanny's dad) Great entertainment and memorable characters!
Remember when Nikolai was down on his luck because Lithuania declared independence from Russia or something, so poor Nikolai had to choice but to become a paid henchman for The Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase? That was fun.
