INTRO
It was later in 1990, after the Ultimate Warrior had defeated Hulk Hogan for the WWF Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania VI… Vince had gotten the idea to build the entire opening of the WWF “Superstars of Wrestling” program around his champion, The Ultimate Warrior… The opening itself looked kind of hi-tech at the time, certainly more elaborate than anything else that had been tried in wrestling by that point. We seem to be on planet Warrior as a camera navigates through the rocks to find the Warrior, holding his belt high in the air before staring into the screen and shooting us with his laser beam eyes… You know, the more I write about this, the more it sounds like a Warrior idea… I think Vince was dead on here… Even the background music was a lighter version of the Warrior’s theme… This speicific opening would continue running up through WrestleMania VII. Even though the Warrior had dropped the belt to Sgt. Slaughter at Rumble 1991, it was better off keeping the Warrior opening as they sure weren’t going with an Iraqi/Slaughter one. Though knowing WWF at the time, it would have been perfect exploitation.. It’s almost as if they knew Slaughter would drop the belt to Hogan, because immediately following Mania 7, we had a new Superstars opening. How cool would it be if this thing played right before Warrior’s induction speech?!!!!
SEGMENT OF THE WEEK
This is another famous angle from Georgia Championship Wrestling. It involves Gordon Solie, the Magnificent Muraco, and “Rowdy” Roddy Piper. Some may know where I’m going with this, but for those who don’t… stay tuned! It was the early 1980’s and the heel Muraco was currently engulfed in a feud with Tommy “Wildfire” Rich, while Roddy Piper had been working not only as a heel, but also as co-host of the GCW program, alongside legend Gordon Solie. Gordon had been scheduled to interview Don Muraco, when Muraco became infuritated with Gordon over some of the comments that were made. Muraco went after Solie, grabbing him by his suit. Just when it looked like Muraco was going to deck the Dean of announcers, RODDY PIPER COMES FLYING INTO THE SCREEN AND ATTACKS MURACO!!! It’s a great angle, and it’s followed up by a second part. After the initial brawl, you’ll see footage that was shot later in the week from the Omni. It involved Tommy Rich pinning Muraco in a falls count anywhere match due to a distraction from Piper. Following the match, Muraco confronted the calm, cool, and collected, Hot Rod and even took a swing… But Roddy was ready, retaliating with a punch filled with a roll of quarters! Piper KO’s Muraco flat out in the ring, calmly puts his sports coat back on, and walks away. Two really well done angles, and with that, one of the most hated wrestlers in wrestling, became one of the most beloved.
SQUASH OF THE WEEK
We go to the WWF, it’s 1987, and the Demolition are kicking butt and taking names… In this particular match, Ax & Smash have the opportunity to make short work of two guys who were generally considered just above jobber status. Watch as Demolition, demolish and destroy the team of Special Delivery Jones, and the one time prospect Outback Jack. G’day Mates!
I guess those vignettes didn’t do Outback any good. Crocodile Dundee he wasn’t.
MUSIC VIDEO OF THE WEEK
.Twuz the dying days of the Lebell’s Los Angeles territory… It’s 1981, and if you thought Vince McMahon came up with some goofy gimmicks down the line, you haven;t seen anything yet! Enter, THE MONSTER. Reportedly created in a laboratory (no, I’m not making this stuff up), the Monster debuted as a “monster” heel. This gimmick was portrayed by wrestler Tony Hernandez, who was forced to walk around in four inch lifts while attempting to wrestle in a Frankenstein costume. There was little mobility, and the guy sold less than the Undertaker in his early years. For nearly three decades, the only knowledge of this character was based on memories from fans on the West Coast, and Dave Meltzer’s polls which voted the Monster as the “Most Disguting Promotional Tactic” of 1981. To give you an idea of what that means, The Monster joins the ranks of things like the Katie Vick Angle, Vince exploiting the Gulf War, and the various exploitations of wrestling deaths from the Von Erichs to Bruiser Brody. A few years back, as I was surfing youtube I came across an actual match of the Monster!!! A complete match!!! Up to that point, nothing but a single, blurry picture had ever been seen of the character on the internet… I was excited… I had finally gotten the opportunity to see the Monster in all his glory!!! Unfortunately, some time later, the person who opened the account took down the video without explanation. Some time would go by, and I would do some searching from time to time, hoping we’d see this footage again. Finally, I came across the below… While it’s not the original full length match, someone has re-uploaded the Monster in action set to a music video. The majority of the match, if not the entire match, is shown throughout the duration of the video. Since the original match was removed, I don’t recall the Monster’s opponent here, but I can confirm his manager in this instance was none other than the Great Goliath (of Black Gordman Goliath fame). I’ll have a little more on the Monster after the video, but sit back and enjoy. AND CHECK OUT THIS GUYS CHOKESLAM!!!!
Now I don’t normally show custom made videos, but that deserves to be seen by the masses… That, my friends, was the Monster… He came in as a terrifying legit threat, but it was obvious he had no mobility in the outfit, and if he tried to do anything he’d likely snap an ankle. During this run the Monster would actually wrestle Andre the Giant, and lose. Boy, wouldn’t you like to have seen that??? Andre vs. The Monster!!! The Monster would eventually have his mask ripped off, he’d turn face, and continue working the character as more of a cartoony kids thing. Needless to say, shortly thereafter, even with great gimmicks like the monster, the Lebells were forced to close up shop, and the legacy of the Monster would live on through this bit of footage!
BLAST FROM THE PAST
For those young’uns out there that want to scroll past this black & white feature, before you even think about skipping this small gem, here’s a little insight. We head down to Mexico for the legend of all legends, El Santo as he takes on a young Black Gordman. There’s more action in these two minutes of clips of a 2 out of 3 falls match (looks to be taped for a Santo movie) than in most matches you see on RAW today. I know Jake Roberts likes to tell the story of having the Grappler in a front facelock, tripping backwards, and inventing the DDT, so he may want to sweep this under a rug. Gordman was known for his DDT two DECADES before the Snake Man. You’ll catch Gordman’s “Diamond Twist” DDT early in this exciting match. Video footage doesn’t lie. Didn’t mean to burst anyone’s bubble, but this is some true classic action. The footage looks to be from around the end of the 1950’s – going into the 1960’s.
FEATURE MATCH OF THE WEEK
We’re going to thing a little out of order this week. Generally, I feature the interview of the week at some point during the show, but this week we’ll save that for our feature. There’s good reason as the interview I have planned to show you coincides with the fallout from our feature match. What’s the match you ask? We go to Memphis, Tennessee, home of the KING. And this match just happens to involve the King… As Jerry Lawler squares off against the legendary Terry Funk in one of the more unique matches for the ages. It’s the very first “Empty Arena” match. A match in which Terry Funk had come on Memphis TV and challenged Lawler to a fight at the Mid-South Coliseum during the day. A ring would be set up, but the arena would be empty. The only people permitted in the Coliseum would be Funk, Lawler, Lance Russell to commentate, and a camera man… There would be no referee, there would be no rules.. It’d be a true fight to the finish… Funk would show up at the Coliseum, and wait to see if Lawler would show. The King finally does show up, and the fight begins. Some of you may know the outcome, but for those who don’t, I won’t spoilt it… Watch the video and I’ll continue my commentary on the other side!
MY EYE! MY EYE! Interesting ending to a unique match. It was made to look as if Funk had lost his eye after the King inadvertently knocked the piece of wood up into the face of the former World Champion. Things wouldn’t end there though… Oh no they wouldn’t’….
INTERVIEW OF THE WEEK
After having his eye nearly blinded by the King, Terry Funk shows up on Memphis TV the following week sporting a patcvh over his eye and a missing front tooth. Funker shows up during a Nightmares squash match and he is A MAN POSSESED!!! Terry asks Lance where Lawler is, but Lance explains that the King is down in Florida wrestling this weekend. Funk didn’t want to hear that! Terry hops into the ring and beats the crap out of the enhancement guys, squealing like Cactus Jack. Terry acts like a crazy nut, and this was long before his time in ECW, or even WCW. Funk then returns to the announce table for more interview time. Funk calls out Lawler again, even though the King isn’t there. Terry punches the hell out of a chair and then cracks it over his own head repeatedly before yelling and screaming words I can’t even make out… It makes for a great look!
I can’t think of a better way to close a show than with a wild Terry Funk promo… It certainly makes you want to come back for more… I certainly hope you guys come back for more, with the next trip down Memory Lane!!!
