Jim Crockett Promotions (1935-1988)

[Hawk 34]

The angle makes that look super gay.

Not photographed: George South and Tommy Rich

 

[BruiserBrody]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1650077270466347009

Apparently, Barry and Lex being called the "Twin Towers" was an Apter only thing, something I didn't realize until a recent Between the Sheets pod.

 

[BruiserBrody]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1650128730478526464

Now I know where Rambo stole his strategy from in Last Blood when he first tries to confront the cartel.

 

[BruiserBrody]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1249028021916504065

WW2 in Gif form

 

[BruiserBrody]

I have to wonder if JCP made a play for JYD when he was fired after WM 3 (at least until June)? Yes, he was drugged up and getting fatter by the month, but he would have been a nice cog to have for the "new" UWF that would come from JCP buying them in April/May.

Of course they failed to keep talent like Dibiase and OMG, so who knows what money was budgeted and how much was Dusty really worried
about beefing up the brand. (Which he admits he didn't focus on as he was focused on JCP taking on WWF.

The booking potential for UWF to Starrcade really could have saved JCP from hitting the skids as the 85/86 roster was starting to become stale.
Is it all moot as Vince will block the PPVs anyway and thus the $$$ issues will take JCP down regardless?

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

‘87 JYD is an exponentially better get than ‘89 Dog. It didn’t seem like he was thoroughly washed until ‘88. Like, yeah, there’s obviously a sharp decline from Mid South JYD (or even ‘84-‘85 WWF JYD) to the ‘87 edition but you could still see glimpses of his greatness. After ‘88, he seemed like a weak, burnt out tribute to himself.

 

[BruiserBrody]

Listening to more of the Wrestling History Grenade pod and he is covering Bigelow's WWF build in Aug 87. So it made me think about what if Bigelow goes to JCP instead?
- When Ole broke off with the Horsemen in early 87, the only face who would aid him was Tim Horner, a JTTS. Imagine instead if Ole brings in Bigelow and they work tags so Tully and Arn can pinball for Bigelow and potentially give the green big man some psychology to go along with his raw athletic talents. By summer he can be in the Bash rotation of challengers for Flair, which has to be more believable than someone like Robert Gibson and Hawk.
- Bigelow comes in as a heel (maybe with Paul Jones?) Wahoo, Ron Garvin, Windham, and Bob/Brad Armstrong are all in the mix for early midcard feuds and eventually Big Dust can bleed a gusher after a Bigelow assaults' featuring a bunch of diving headbutts. (There is a PWF pic from 89 that captures this exact thing that has always stuck with me.) Bigelow can bump and make Dusty look good and hopefully capture the same magic that allowed Big Bubba to set attendance records vs Dusty.

 

[Valeyard]

Bigelow and Nikita would've been some awesome brawls. I think they'd have clicked really well

 

[BruiserBrody]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1667874355051651072

Dusty is putting himself over in a Bunkhouse Stampede in Wrestling Heaven.

Hard to believe I've had the same avatar for that long.

 

[BruiserBrody]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1668047627378728962

Love all of this.

That being said... if it appeared on this week's RAW, I'd hate it for making a joke of the wrestlers.

 

[Valeyard]

Adrian Street is one of my all time favorites and I always forget how much I love that dude when I don't see him for a while. If he were ten years younger and eight inches taller, he's one of the most iconic names of the 1980s.

 

[Tino Standard]

Jeeeeesus.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1668705059385769984

 

[Valeyard]

Condrey with the gauntlets. Whenever a Midnight busted out gauntlets jobbers died.

 

[BruiserBrody]

I am not sure what’s nuttier that Ronnie Garvin went from World Champion to JTTS in less than three years or that fortysomething Ronnie Garvin won a World Title in the first place!

Options were pretty slim in late 87. Dusty and Flair had worked 2 Starrcades and another 3000 house shows. Nikita did Starrcade 86 and had 2 runs vs Flair already. Dr Death was UWF champ, but couldn't talk and wasn't over to the degree to justify a title run. You might knee cap Windham by giving him a 6 week reign and losing it back. Luger was still a Horsemen. Sting didn't get his first match w/ Flair until Jan 88.
Flair had been in a feud with the Garvins all summer, so it isn't like Ronnie won it cold. This was tied right into the famous angle where Flair wanted to fuck Precious and eventually Ronnie dressed in drag to jump him at a hotel while Flair was prepping to sodomize Jimmy's wife.
I can't recall if it was Flair or Dusty who decided they wanted Flair to win the belt at the first JCP PPV, so the change was done due to a outside circumstance. not that Garvin had taken off as a draw.
IIRC the switch in Sept happening in Detroit was done because JCP was breaking into the market, or a different arena there, or something like that. The pop was big for the change. but title switches were rare enough that pretty much anytime it happened, the crowd would lose their minds.

It's kind of funny because 2 years later Flair refused to do a quickie switch with Luger in order to wait for Sting's knee to heal.
--
I'm still not quite certain in the JCP is giving Ronnie Garvin 40 days off to prep for the rematch is a pure Apter creation or if JCP TV did something like that as Garvin is active during that period.

 

[BruiserBrody]

One of Flair's ex wives came by TA's house when he wasn't home and took the belt that Flair gave him in the hospital so that Reid could have a heirloom. Now it is in HHH's office.

 

[Hawk 34]

Good. Otherwise it would be at a pawn shop in Greensboro.

 

[BruiserBrody]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1677995637273493506

I know technique is part of it, but it still seems silly to have Dusty beat Graham. At least have Graham jump out of his seat and attack or something!

 

[BruiserBrody]

Between the Sheets pod covered the Bash 88 this week, which led to them discussing the OTHER Tower of Doom matches:
JCP @ Landover, MD – Capital Centre – July 30, 1988
Dusty Rhodes, Lex Luger, the Road Warriors, Sting, & Paul Ellering defeated NWA World Champion Ric Flair, NWA US Champion Barry Windham, Kevin Sullivan, JJ Dillon, NWA Tag Team Champions Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard in a Tower of Doom match

JCP @ Atlanta, GA – Omni – August 26, 1988 (13,700)
Jimmy Garvin, Steve Williams, Nikita Koloff, Brad Armstrong, & Ricky Morton defeated Kevin Sullivan, NWA TV Champion Mike Rotundo, Rick Steiner, Ivan Koloff, & Al Perez (sub. for the Russian Assassin) in a Tower of Doom match

JCP @ Charlotte, NC – Coliseum – August 27, 1988 (13,500)
Debut at the new coliseum
The Road Warriors, Jimmy Garvin, Brad Armstrong, & Steve Williams defeated Kevin Sullivan, Rick Steiner, NWA TV Champion Mike Rotundo, Ivan Koloff, & the Russian Assassin in a Tower of Doom match

A little surprising they didn't put Jimmy Garvin in one of the slots for the Horsemen/Sullivan vs Faces match

Had the Powers of Pain stayed on to be in these matches I'd think Barbarian would be fine, but Warlord would probably have struggled climbing to the top and working his way down the cages.

Those big crowds were helped thanks to Luger/Flair rematches and Midnight Express vs Tully/Arn.

 

[BruiserBrody]

John McAdam reviewed the Bash 88 this week too. He says the Midnight Rider was supposed to be in the main event against Flair, win, and then be stripped of the title for refusing to unmask. I have to cry BS!
Would that mean Sting/Luger play off the Crockett Cup win and face Tully/Arn for the tag belts? So where does that leave Windham? He turns on Luger and betrays Dusty and faces neither? Or you do Luger/Windham and Luger blows it for a lesser title? You really can't have Windham lose the title without cutting his balls off since he just won the title in May.
Dusty was teasing retirement on TV by late 87 and I really don't see him actually trying to book himself vs Flair again when he had Sting/Luger being built up. Rider/Sting (w/Magnum) vs Arn/Tully makes much more sense if they play off the whole angle that led to the Rider returning.

 

[BruiserBrody]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1680708450156785664

Fighting with a coked up Wahoo sounds like a terrible plan.

Hell of a card!

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

I’ll take ‘80s wrestler tall tales for $200, Alex

https://wrestlingnews.co/wwe-news/nikita-koloff-says-he-and-kerry-von-erich-were-considered-to-play-ivan-drago-in-rocky-iv?fbclid=IwAR1qhL3o2nwWAaGw1n9hkV2gEAlALgpN-oR8pL0wBxmfuGnQiwHpF5QgLxo_aem_Ab7qCEmWD4Q2LvF5JOwLMDVQ_cuDrq1Gi4RuZuvZIXa0aoqlJOzIze5dARpGe8eIEO0&mibextid=Zxz2cZ

 

[BruiserBrody]

I’ll take ‘80s wrestler tall tales for $200, Alex

https://wrestlingnews.co/wwe-news/nikita-koloff-says-he-and-kerry-von-erich-were-considered-to-play-ivan-drago-in-rocky-iv?fbclid=IwAR1qhL3o2nwWAaGw1n9hkV2gEAlALgpN-oR8pL0wBxmfuGnQiwHpF5QgLxo_aem_Ab7qCEmWD4Q2LvF5JOwLMDVQ_cuDrq1Gi4RuZuvZIXa0aoqlJOzIze5dARpGe8eIEO0&mibextid=Zxz2cZ

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1024352839705845760

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

I don’t buy the fact that he auditioned just the reason why he got turned down was because he was too big to be believable.

Dolph Lundgren is taller than him! And it’s Rocky IV! Where does believability factor into any of this?

 

[BruiserBrody]

I don’t buy the fact that he auditioned just the reason why he got turned down was because he was too big to be believable.

Dolph Lundgren is taller than him! And it’s Rocky IV! Where does believability factor into any of this?

Movie magic negates the height thing. They had Hogan stand on a box for some shots 1 vs 1 w/ Rocky.

I'd guess Nikita's stiff acting and over the top accent didn't help. Koloff was bloated with muscle, but didn't have have Dolph's chiseled face and sculpted abs.

 

[Valeyard]

Lundgren worked because he looked like someone who was a gifted amateur athlete to begin with that got turned into a supermutant. Nikita looked and acted like a pro wrestler.

Russian Kerry would've been one of the most iconic bad performances in history to this day and killed the franchise.

 

[JN News]

I really wish WWE would add all of the NWA/JCP GAB summer tours to WWE on Peacock. I miss all those events because it's wrestling the way wrestling should be.

 

[Valeyard]

How much of those exist on tape?

 

[alkeiper]

I would settle for the ‘87 Bash commercial tape.

 

[JHawk]

How much of those exist on tape?

I know several of the 1988 shows were on the Network but never made the transition to Peacock for some reason.

Most of the 1987 shows were taped, several for TV, so I'd assume most of them exist.

 

[OldSchoolWrestling]

I would settle for the ‘87 Bash commercial tape.

I believe I have 2 copies of this.