WWF: Hulkamania era (1984-`1992)

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

OK is probably really really pushing it. Although the MSG crowd might have helped elevate it. If the match happened in Dayton or Wichita, there’s no way it’s good.

 

[Valeyard]

I mean ok by MSG lower card standard.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

Yeah, the MSG die hards getting into it like it’s a main event might have made it tolerable but just that. SD Jones was a limited talent in his prime let alone 1990. Crazy to think this match happened a month before The Undertaker’s debut.

We don’t have to speculate too much! The last six minutes of the match are on YouTube!

Unlike Special Delivery, I always thought Mike Sharpe deserved better. He was big enough and charismatic enough to be a mid card guy. You can’t tell me he couldn’t have done the role that Dino Bravo had in his ‘86-‘91 run. Probably even better!

 

[Valeyard]

Sharpe would've been a great Demolition Smash.

I think if he got the spots Bass or Windham were meant to he could've made it work at least long enough to get over and give a small rub.

 

[BruiserBrody]

Imagine being 10 year old me in 1991/92 and getting a horde of old Apters at a rummage sale.... You open the 1983 ratings page and see "Iron" Mike Sharpe is challenging for the WWF title. My little (still big) head exploded as I only knew him as a Superstars and Challenge fall guy.

Sharpe got lots of promo time for what he was in the mid 80s for house shows.
IIRC he left the WWF for a bit and went to Watts so MAYBE Vince decided he couldn't be trusted to get behind minus his enhancement role? There were 2000 people on the roster, being a good hand wasn't going to be enough to stand out and get a push.
Had he gotten a role though, Sharpe would have been fine, I agree.
His family were legends, and he had built in overness in Japan. So maybe Sharpe pushed back against being gimmicked up and thus cut his own legs off from advancement.

I'll create a 300 page thread someday that is just me talking about each piece of talent from 84-85 and how their WWF run should have went.

"You see, with a name like Fracture Frackenberg he should have been a lowed mid card heel working comedy matches with Animal Steele. However SS Graham's failed comeback changed the dynamics of the plans and Steele stuck around with Savage instead to build to the Dragon angle...."

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1733577255593660695

Tweets to pop @BruiserBrody .

Is the New Orient Express the only example of the “new” version team being vastly superior to the original? I guess the Stan Lane Midnight Express but they weren’t called the New Midnight Express.

 

[Valeyard]

Another universe has Pillman and Bruce Hart in masks billed from Japan

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

I'm surprised no major promotion has ever done a Weeb gimmick. I guess closest would be Kenny Omega.

 

[Valeyard]

Lufisto perfected it years ago.

 

[BruiserBrody]

WWE This Tuesday In Texas

WWE Tuesday in Texas took place on December 3, 1991 at the Freeman Coliseum in San Antonio, Texas. Five professional wrestling matches were scheduled on the card. The main event was a rematch for the WWF Championship, which saw Hulk Hogan defeat the champion, The Undertaker, to regain the...

www.themoviedb.org

Poor cover design gives us the dream team we never got. (I suppose I should check 2002 results for something wonky)

 

[Valeyard]

Such a weird show but one of my favorites. The good is so good, what little there is. Could've been a great show, too, and should've been.

Show was my white whale for a year or so when I was like 12. Tracking down a copy of Supertape '92 (underrated btw) was such a pain in the ass.

 

[snuffbox]

Yeah, just using what was already on the taping/dark match end, they could've made that an even better 3 hour show. Just air LOD-Disasters, Flair-Piper, and the Rockers Barber Shop breakup live on the ppv.

 

[Valeyard]

I wonder why they didn't. The dark matches are more stacked than the show. LOD/Rockers with a miscommunication finish and Flair/Piper feel like no brainers for a show you're intending to be a new business model.

Bret/Mountie or Bret/Berzerker or something would've been better than Skinner, too. Bulldog/Warlord had no business being on ppv again, either.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

It was a dry run for In Your House, a shorter, cheaper PPV. I genuinely think they didn’t think they could justify three hour shows besides the big four.

Of course, they have done just fine having three hour PPVs/PLEs every month the past 26 years but they didn’t know that in 1991)

(Although WWE has reduced it down to 9-10 PLES a year since they started doing shows for live crowds again post pandemic. Sweet spot is probably like 6 to 8 PLEs a year IMO but I’m not a promoter!)

 

[snuffbox]

Failing in 1991 and then failing with the same idea again a few years later isn't a very strong defense of McMahon.

Just run a full ppv if you want a chance at more revenue and push it back a couple weeks if you don't want it too close to the Survivor Series.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

I wasn’t defending McMahon. Read the second paragraph. Yeesh.

 

[Valeyard]

It just doesn't make sense to not load up the new format right out of the gate, though. Three hours with all the star power to build to the Rumble, give the impression that this is what's going to be happening at these shows. When you scale it down to just SNME/IYH shows in the spring, you at least have started stronger than Tuesday In Texas.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

What really didn't make sense was making the three hour show an informercial for the two hour show IMO. Survivor Series is the weakest of the big four and no one will complain about having to work an hour less the night before Thanksgiving. Just cut the jobbers elimination match and the stupid six man then add a few matches to TTiT.

 

[Valeyard]

If Tuesday In Texas was a special event or something they were talking up well before Survivor Series as a "wait and see" kind of show and then built it during the show, it would've worked a lot better than just a bait and switch. Taking Savage and Jake out of the main event killed the show anyway.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

Survivor Series 1991 is such an aesthetically weird show. Outside of the World Title change, it feels a blend between a SNME and Coliseum Video.

 

[Valeyard]

It's paced really badly, more than anything. Once you take Jake and Savage out of the main event, you really really need to either put the title match or the Flair match on top (and give the latter an actual finish). That's all the star power you can have on top and who are all building towards something. Doesn't save the show from its big problems but at least it doesn't feel like you can check out after the title match. You can't book a show that way on ppv.

I honestly do wish the Rockers and Berzerker had a spot on Tuesday in Texas, though. Shawn and Nord worked harder than anyone else at Survivor Series.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

The Rockers Vs The Berzerker and The Barbarian for TTiT. Yeah, they did Rockers Vs Faces of Fear earlier that year, so what?

 

[Valeyard]

Rockers/LOD and Bulldog/Berzerker is probably best all around. Bret/Mountie or, god forbid, Bret/IRS too.

 

[snuffbox]

Bret/Mountie with Mountie almost winning by cheating better sets up the January switches with Piper too.

 

[BruiserBrody]

As far as the depth of the card, other than Manias they had generally made a point of not wrecking the house show models by putting a bunch of blow offs on a PPV. (Well, Summerslam 91 was full of feuds but that was an outlier from the norm,)

Tuesday in Texas was built as a Hogan/Taker and Savage/Snake vehicle with everything else largely useful fluff. (Isn't this Bulldog/Warlord match shockingly good?)
I like the idea of Bret/Mountie with a fuck finish to build to the Rumble. But at the same time they didn't know Bret/Mountie wasn't happening at Rumble so you almost have to do another strong match to prop up the Rumble card then.
I think you avoid Piper/Flair on TTITexas because it was a top house show feud and it confuses the issue with Flair fucking around with Hogan. It feels more like Piper should get involved if he and Flair have a fight before the title match.
Tito/Virgil vs Repo/Ted looks silly 30 years later, but it was the blowoff of a mid-card feud. Tito, Virgil and Repo all collapsed into JTTS and Ted (IIRC) had already started teaming with IRS in Unincorporated Money. They wouldn't file as a business until after Rumble.

I wonder if the PPV wasn't hurt more by how soon it happened after SSeries. The Apters were up in arms over WCW and WWF running 4 or 5 PPVs a year each as it was. If you just blew your turkey budget on Wednesday and then are expected to dump more less than a week later (with Xmas looming), it seems like a hard sell, especially with Hulkamania waning.

I wonder if they had run monthly PPVs at this point how much blame would be attributed to them for the product's popularity dying off rapidly?

 

[Valeyard]

Oh there should be zero blowoffs at a show like this. It's about extending and building.

Flair/Piper has a fuck finish that opens the show and has Piper remove Flair from the main event later on to tie it all together, which in turn adds to the chaos that makes vacating the title feel more warranted. Hype is the usual "could this be the final chapter" house show stuff.

Bret/Mountie is just another in a series of matches. I wouldn't put Mountie over, but it I wouldn't have him look bad in losing whatsoever. Even if the intention isn't to put the title on him later, the midcard only had so many strong workers who were over. Small package, the end, maybe a cattle prod afterwards if you wanna push it to the limit and go from there. Don't have him submit, not now.

Tag titles were needed. That's for sure. A ppv without all the belts on the line felt weird. LOD/Rockers, sprint, miscommunication, Rockers argue, have some locker room attack or whatever with the Disasters if you wanna push it further.

Money Inc/Repo vs Bossman/Virgil/Tito instead. Bossman won't take the pin and he won't get hurt by losing to anyone but Repo, anyway. Kickstart Money Inc.

Savage/Jake is perfect as it is (although it's the worst Heenan ever was in the WWF because this was not a good feud to crack jokes about).

Bulldog/Warlord has no business on this show. They've fought all year and while this was the only match worth looking at, it doesn't exactly need to exist. If you gotta put Bulldog on the card, it should be Berzerker or even Flair.

They actually underbooked Hogan/Taker considering where the story went. They could've gone nuts and made the endgame work even better.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

https://www.facebook.com/RasslinGrenade/posts/pfbid02MTBiRttDTznii8JKTRa8bRURYT6SddurkXQYmSdGwSRNdw1BNeCZzNJHeyNW5UMYl

Virgil is in the rare group of guys who got a WWF World Title shot in their canonical in-ring debut

 

[BruiserBrody]

https://www.facebook.com/RasslinGrenade/posts/pfbid02MTBiRttDTznii8JKTRa8bRURYT6SddurkXQYmSdGwSRNdw1BNeCZzNJHeyNW5UMYl

Virgil is in the rare group of guys who got a WWF World Title shot in their canonical in-ring debut

?

 

[strummer]

Was there a reason DiBiase didn't wrestle much his first 6 months or so in the company or was it strictly kayfabe?

 

[BruiserBrody]

Was there a reason DiBiase didn't wrestle much his first 6 months or so in the company or was it strictly kayfabe?

He was injured around November for a few weeks. The TV angles covered for him.
Virgil subbed for him at house shows it appears.