So...Young Rock?

[King Kamala]

Having watched the first two episodes tonight, I have to say...this show is fine.

 

[Hoff]

I laughed a lot at Kenan again!

 

[BruiserBrody]

I'm extremely glad they are using real names for the wrestlers. For decades we have suffered from sitcom wrestlers The Crusher, The Masked Marvel, etc. (and this weeks THE GULL).

Deluded carny Rocky Johnson is fabulous.

 

[King Kamala]

Rocky Johnson is easily best character on the show and it is a great depiction of a certain type of delusional washed wrestler.

 

[Hoff]

Okay I'mma derail this thread for just one sec. Harkening back to a week or two ago when I was looking things up on Urban Dictionary - I have never heard the term "washed" anywhere but here. Are you guys sure it's a thing? Is it like a NEW ENGLAND MAN thing? I dunno. I am suspicious.

Anyway, full co-sign on Rocky Johnson being the highlight of the show.

 

[King Kamala]

Definitely not a NEW ENGLAND MAN thing. I think I first saw it on Twitter.

 

[Epic Springs]

I liked episode 2 and agreed Rocky Johnson's carniness is amazing. Also loved the Wild Samoans cameo.

 

[BruiserBrody]

Rocky Johnson is easily best character on the show and it is a great depiction of a certain type of delusional washed wrestler.

Working with Jules Strongbow for the past 9-10 years adds an extra layer to Johnson's behavior.

I truly enjoy talking old wrestling with him, but have heard the same 7-10 stories 1000 times.

 

[Baby Shoes]

@King Kamala Brace yourself for the Greg “The Hammer” Valentine cameo early this week. I wonder what the casting call for The Hammer looks like.

I’m not sure how casting happened but I know I had seen this pictures of this Macho Man weeks ago. His impression was pretty weak. Matt Cardona claimed on one of his podcasts recently he had unsolicited tried to send in his pictures to be considered as Savage.

 

[King Kamala]

@King Kamala Brace yourself for the Greg “The Hammer” Valentine cameo early this week. I wonder what the casting call for The Hammer looks like.

If casting call for Adrian Adonis doesn’t get sent to me, I’ll be pissed.

Did Rocky Johnson have any interaction with Macho Man, @BruiserBrody ? I would think their paths never crossed but Idk.

 

[BruiserBrody]

He left the WWF 2 weeks or so before Macho Man showed up.

I don't think they would have crossed in the Poffos Kentucky Outlaw territory. I suppose its possible Rocky was in Georgia for a bit when Randy was "The Spider" or whatever, but overall I'd say they never met.

 

[BruiserBrody]

The High Chief Peter actor looked pretty spot on. It seems whoever is casting talent is doing a great job on the Rock's family and so so on most everyone else.

I will refrain from comment on the kayfabe breaking beach party. Bundy did work at least one of the Hawaiian mega shows in 1985, but Macho Man was still working in KY gyms when this story took place. We could do a "Young Mach" spin off where psycho Savage snorts coke, goes to a grocery store to shoplift a steak, then pulls a gun on Bill Dundee in a gas station parking lot.

I was tickled we got an episode on Rock's hardass grandma only a week or 2 after I suggested she would make for some good stories.

Loving this show!

 

[Epic Springs]

Was Leah Maivia being such a hands on promoter common knowledge? I know Peter ran the Hawaiian territory but had no idea his wife was a big part of that.

JYD was great in this episode. Was "Yao" an actual person or based on a competing promoter?

 

[BruiserBrody]

Was Leah Maivia being such a hands on promoter common knowledge? I know Peter ran the Hawaiian territory but had no idea his wife was a big part of that.

JYD was great in this episode. Was "Yao" an actually person or based on a competing promoter?

Jules Strongbow confirmed before the episode even aired that she was a known hardass.

I posted earlier the incident with Lars Anderson and the threats.

She and Lars tried running the west coast and bombed hard several times.

April 86: Lars Anderson and his Polynesian Pro Wrestling flew everyone into the US again for a show in San Jose on 4/20 and “drew nearly 50 people, 25 paid” to see such stars as Lars, and some random Samoans. One of them was “Son of Samoa”, who is the younger brother of Tonga Kid and said to have great potential. Younger brother of Sam Fatu = Solofa Fatu = Rikishi.

===

August 9, 1986 as a sequel to the Hot Summer Night show

Here is the 1986 show as it was advertised.

1. Spice Williams vs. Debbie The Killer Tomato o
2. Keith and Owen Hart vs. The Sheik and Vladimir Krupoff
3. Canek vs. Dos Caras
4. Bad News Allen vs. Alexis Smirnoff in a judo match
5. Keiji Muto vs. Jerry Grey
6. Hans Schroeder vs. Uncle Elmer
7. Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Johnny Mantel
8. Little Kevin vs. someone in a midget match
9. Mighty Milo vs. Jack Attack
10. Richie Magnett vs. Mighty Milo
11. Steve Rickard vs. Larry O'Dea
12. Takeshi Oisi vs. Harris Montelo
13. Jerry Lawler and Super Samoan Sakalia vs. Soo Hong Kim and Seung Hwi Yang
14. Bruiser Brody vs. Grizzly Smith in a bodyslam challenge match
15. Joe Solo and Kinipopos 1 and 2 vs. Robert Toronto, Don Stevens, and Peter Maivia Jr.
16. Tatsumi Fujinami and Kengo Kimura vs. Kendo Nagasaki and Mr. Pogo
17. Farmer Boy Ipo and Leroy Brown vs. Mad Maxx and Super Maxx
18. Bruiser Brody, Tommy Rich, and Jeff Magruder vs. Kamala, Kevin Sullivan, and Mark Lewin in a barbed wire match
19. Antonio Inoki vs. Hacksaw Higgins
20. Superfly Tui vs. Lars Anderson in a steel cage match

There were no shows up and down the card and all sorts of booking arguments backstage. The card ended up being almost entirely rebooked and only drew about 1,900 to the 50,000 seat Aloha Stadium in the midst of a terrible rain storm. The 1985 card drew about 14,000.

Here are the results of the rebooked 1986 card per the Observer.

1. Kinipopos 1 and 2 vs. Keith and Owen Hart, draw
2. Uncle Elmer defeated Hans Schroeder by count out
3. Debbie The Killer Tomato defeated Spice Williams
4. Keiji Muto defeated Jerry Grey
5. Seiji Sakaguchi defeated Johnny Mantel
6. Bad News Allen defeated Alexis Smirnoff in a judo match
7. Farmer Boy Ipo and Leroy Brown defeated Mad Maxx and Super Maxx
8. Jerry Lawler defeated Super Samoan Sakalia
9. Bruiser Brody and Grizzly Smith (not the famous father of Jake Roberts) defeated Mark Lewin and The Sheik in a barbed wire match
10 Tatsumi Fujinami and Kengo Kimura defeated Kendo Nagasaki and Mr. Pogo
11. Antonio Inoki defeated Hacksaw Higgins by disqualification
12. Superfly Tui defeated Lars Anderson in a steel cage match

However even those results are suspect. After being listed, there were numerous corrections in the following weeks and a poster named WEWIII at KM had this to say about the show.

Just a few notes from Hot Summer Night 2 Show. Kini Popos went against Hart Brothers, but neither were Owen Hart. He may have seconded them, but not sure. Only thing I remember about the match was after the draw one of the Harts said bs on the microphone(I'm being kind here). Uncle Elmer was over from his WWF exposure.
Spicy Williams was hot, she had a smoking bod. Keiji Muto really woke up the crowd when he did the moonsault. If anything that was cool to see in person. When the Maxx Bros lost the tag title to the Samoan connection, one of the Max Bros was a different one than who won the belt in the first place. Jerry Lawler wrestled Steve Rickard. Most people found this bout amusinig because it looked like Lawler was wrestling an old man. Oh yeah, he was seconded by now ex-wife #2 Paula and son Brian. The best match on the show had to be Fujinami/Kimura vs Pogo/Nagasaki. There's probably a lot more stuff I'm forgetting, but it's really tough to remember a card you tried really hard to forget.

 

[King Kamala]

Debbie The Killer Tomato and Spicy Williams (Hot Sauce Tracy Williams' mom!?) are both incredible names for wrestlers IMO.

 

[BruiserBrody]

The last 2 episodes were sort of meh. The low key (passive aggressive?) burial of Rocky Johnson continues.

I did pop for an Abdullah the Butcher name drop this week.

 

[OldSchoolWrestling]

The last 2 episodes were sort of meh. The low key (passive aggressive?) burial of Rocky Johnson continues.

I did pop for an Abdullah the Butcher name drop this week.

Was this last episode saying he was a womanizer?

 

[BruiserBrody]

Was this last episode saying he was a womanizer?

His mom caught him stealing clothes as a teen. Rocky Johnson was AWOL at a wrestling convention and carousing.

 

[OldSchoolWrestling]

His mom caught him stealing clothes as a teen. Rocky Johnson was AWOL at a wrestling convention and carousing.

I thought I had read Rock's dad was really tough on him, so it surprised me that they portray him as a goof. Had I heard that wrong?

 

[BruiserBrody]

I thought I had read Rock's dad was really tough on him, so it surprised me that they portray him as a goof. Had I heard that wrong?

Well, he is self centered and the series shows the Rock's mom doing menial labor while her husband works for peanuts chasing wrestling gigs after his WWF career dried up.
He's not portrayed as being a great husband during the wrasslin' episodes either. Maybe the series finale will just be him trying to have sex with teenage women at a community center. I believe he was with a different woman/wife by that point.

 

[Baby Shoes]

I’m not super surprised. Rock had an extremely strained relationship with his dad and while they made up, I swore he had some issue again not long before Rocky died. If that was true, these episodes would’ve been in development a bit prior to Rocky’s death and would mirror a time where he wasn’t necessarily kid gloving his dad.

Additionally, no true stories in Hollywood play out identically. So much gets altered for dramatic effect. Just more glaring when stuff gets changed or removed from stories we’ve heard.

 

[OldSchoolWrestling]

I haven't seen much of the original Rocky but the portrayal makes him seem like a really cool guy. Not counting his parenting or husband skills of course.

 

[Epic Springs]

Waiting for @BruiserBrody to confirm if the Battle Royal Leah Maivia layed out on this week's episode ever really happened or was accurate.

 

[BruiserBrody]

Waiting for @BruiserBrody to confirm if the Battle Royal Leah Maivia layed out on this week's episode ever really happened or was accurate.

Other than every single fact involved, it was accurate. Dwayne likely cobbled some Andre memories up for that portion at least.

 

[BruiserBrody]

To elaborate, based on the results I looked up, Hawaii had a "Heavyweight title" and Peter Miavia held it for a nanosecond in March 1980 (another source has a 1979 date instead). The title was basically replaced by the NWA Polynesian Pacific Heavyweight Title which had a largely unremarkable list of champions.

Rocky Johnson won the tag belts a number of times, but I am unsure if Sheiky Baby ever worked Hawaii, much less won a major title.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1366940523592904707

Sheik's handler posted this, but that is more likely to be a WWF pic than Hawaii IMO. Sheik's twitter is hardly kayfabe.

 

[Baby Shoes]

Sheik should be outraged they put him in a cowardly apron when he clearly BBQs with a bare chest.

 

[King Kamala]

Sheik has been a broken down, big gutted old man for so long that I forget he was absolutely shredded in his prime.

 

[BruiserBrody]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1508104292439244807

 

[BruiserBrody]

Watching this week's episode.... I LOL'd at them finding an actor for Jake the Snake who was fatter than any Jake prior to maybe 1999....

The less said about the historical accuracy the better. I understand they are using mainstream known wrestlers for the broad audience....

 

[BruiserBrody]

WHY THE FUCK DID THEY CALL BAM BAM "CRUSHER YURKOV"?!?!?! HE LITTERALLY DEBUTED IN MEMPHIS WITH LARRY SHARPE AND WAS A SENSATION TO THE POINT HE CAME BACK TIME AND TIME AGAIN. FUCK.
EVEN IF HE HAD DONE HIS COMMIE GIMMICK IN MEMPHIS, THE PRODUCERS OF THIS SHOW HAVE SHOWN THEY WILL USE MAINSTREAM WRESTLER PROPERTIES DESPITE HISTORICAL ACCURACY. SO WHY DID THEY TAKE THE OPPOSITE APPROACH HERE!!?!

tldr: Brody mad, bro.

PS and Lawler as the host of Memphis wrestling in 87. Sigh.

God damn it, now they are breaking kayfabe in Memphis. Ugh.

Bigelow says Vince sent him to Memphis to prep for his WWF run. NOOOOOOOO!
FUCK!