WWF: Hulkamania era (1984-`1992)

[alkeiper]

Good time as any to mention what a sweetheart of a person Ron Bass Jr. is.

 

[BruiserBrody]

Yeah, the X is what makes it work. That and it's Brutus who just isn't someone you'd expect to be murdered on television.

Bass should've done more, honestly. He would've been a solid presence in the midcard, at least. Outside of the Beefcake feud and a lost classic with Tito on Prime Time I don't remember much.

He has a bunch of matches with Duggan at house shows I bet were fun slug fests.

A little surprising he didn't stick around for a WM 5 spot, but who knows where that would fit in as the card is pretty loaded unless they book some 6 mans like at SSlam 89.

I remember watching Bass vs Beefcake from SNME with my Grandpa on VHS in the early to mid 90s. Grandpa apparently thought some of this nonsense was real yet as while Bass was put out from the sleeper and getting his head shaved, Grandpa said "Well, now he's just pretending to be sleeping. It's been too long"

 

[BruiserBrody]

Fun to see the Brain's debut on TNT. Lord Al actually makes a nod to his feud with Heenan in the AWA.

This is the same time frame as Piper and Valentine making peace on TV.

 

[Valeyard]

Piper/Valentine had to have happened in the WWF, right?

 

[BruiserBrody]

Piper/Valentine had to have happened in the WWF, right?

Their only WWF matches were 4 random battle royals and Rumble 92.

 

[Valeyard]

That's really weird. Seems like, at least, they headline a show in Crockett country or something.

 

[BruiserBrody]

That's really weird. Seems like, at least, they headline a show in Crockett country or something.

The heel/face alignment didn't really work. Valentine was in tags from right around WM 1 to SSeries 87. Piper started working again in the Fall of 89 until his hip took him out 8-9 months later. By the time he came back again in 1991ish, Valentine was turning face.

 

[Valeyard]

The post Honky, pre hip injury space is definitely plausible for a Coliseum Exclusive, you'd think. I should say that I don't see them having a good match in the WWF, too.

 

[strummer]

The best time would have been late 89/early 90. Piper was back and working Rude. Valentine was a singles again and was with Garvin

 

[snuffbox]

If he came back a little sooner in 89 there could've been a fun 6-man with them at WM 5. Do the talk show angle at the Royal Rumble (and an actual match with Warrior and Rude there) to reintroduce him instead. Hart Foundation/Roddy Piper v Valentine/HTM/Bravo at Wrestlemania.

 

[BruiserBrody]

I think Piper was too big of a star for a Valentine PPV match post 1986. A 89 SNME match would have worked, but Piper was being put into a drawing position with Rude and it probably confuses the issue if you work Valentine/Garvin's angle into a Piper finish and you don't want Piper winning clean.
Bad News Brown was doing not much of anything in 89 after his house show tours doing jobs to the Mega Powers, so giving him a big angle with Piper is a little bit of a surprise, especially given that the end game was putting neither of them over at the PPV.

 

[Valeyard]

Man the hijinks Piper and Garvin vs Rude and Valentine could've been.

Rude/Garvin sounds like a fun time tbh

 

[snuffbox]

That would've been a fun tag team match.

 

[BruiserBrody]

Loss4Words blog:

May 11 – The WWF debuts Saturday Night’s Main Event on NBC. NBC agrees to pay the WWF $204,000 per episode for three total shows originally planned for May, June, and July. [WON 1985-05-04]
The card is taped the previous day at Nassau Coliseum, which draws 8,300 fans, an average number for the building but a “very disappointing number” [WON 1985-05-04] considering the hype and presence of Mr. T and Cyndi Lauper.
In the top matches, WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan defeats Nikolai Volkoff while WWF Women’s Champion Wendi Richter defeats the Fabulous Moolah. The show delivers a 9.8 rating and 27 share from 15.2 million viewers, which is considered “good, but not great” [WON 1985-06-01] as SNL reruns averaged a 10.2 rating and 26 share.
Market by market, the WWF shows strength in New York, Detroit, and Boston where they draw a 14 rating and near 40 share, and major weakness in Dallas, where they draw a single-digit share. [WON 1985-06-01]
While the show is marketed toward younger viewers, only two million of the 15.2 million viewers are teenagers, and an NBC ratings researcher is quoted as saying, “Anyone who thinks wrestling is hitting mainly a rock audience is crazy.” [WON 1985-07-07] The rating “cools [NBC] off on wrestling” [WON 1985-06-01] and rumored weekly shows in fall are now off the table. Opinions on the skits throughout the show among NBC executives ranged from “rather good comedy” [WON 1985-06-15] to “the worst piece of shit ever on network television.” [WON 1985-06-15]

Because of the high ratings and strong relationship between Memphis promoter Jerry Jarrett and WMC-5, the NBC affiliate in the city, SNME does not air in the market, although announcer Lance Russell notes privately to others that “that this would not last forever and that in the long run, WWF had more money, access to get better talent and better television production” [WON 2017-10-09], also noting that “[t]he hometown advantage or superior booking or star power of Jerry Lawler wasn’t going to keep them on top forever.” [WON 2017-10-09]

 

[Valeyard]

Lance was a real one.

 

[strummer]

Dave told that Lance Russell story again after Jerry Jarrett died

 

[Valeyard]

Lance is my favorite announcer ever. Just perfect at all times.

 

[strummer]

One of my favorite stories from that era was the NBC affiliate in Memphis choosing to air wrestling over a World Series game.

 

[BruiserBrody]

Speaking of Memphis, it was apparently while scouting a tape on Jimmy Hart that led the WWF to spot Macho Man.

Kind of odd they wouldn't "know" of a guy who had been headlining shows for 6 or 7 years and had appeared for GCW.

 

[HarleyQuinn]

Speaking of Memphis, it was apparently while scouting a tape on Jimmy Hart that led the WWF to spot Macho Man.

Kind of odd they wouldn't "know" of a guy who had been headlining shows for 6 or 7 years and had appeared for GCW.

That wouldn't surprise me too much given how insular Vince's bubble was known to be on top of the many territories back then/having to find tapes of events. We're spoiled now by everything being phone-filmed (and tbh ECW taping all of their events back in the 90s) but filming and/or taping events had to be expensive unless they were being aired on TV.

Just think of all the early 00s Indy "big names" that people found out about through the IWC and how many would've been mostly unknown without that access point.

 

[BruiserBrody]

It's more a matter that guys like Scott McGhee, Steve Travis, etc got slots early on and a guy like Savage was apparently off the radar. (Now McGhee was 2nd gen and a Florida "star" so I can grasp that)

The guys who weren't booked by WWF in 84-85 are always more intriguing to me than those who did.

Sometimes it makes sense (Bill Dundee's size, Nord's volatile habits, etc.... but then you think "How the heck does a guy like the Warlord get with JCP before WWF?" Seems like a prime candidate to get a gig on the C team learning in 1986 sort of like McGee and Warrior did a year later.

 

[alkeiper]

Plenty of guys like Warlord popped up in the mid 80s. Kevin Kelly, Ed Gantner, etc. No use locking them all up when you can just wait to see which one develops and then steal them anyway.

 

[BruiserBrody]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1851281827647885797

 

[AA484]

Technically pre-Hulkamania for his peak, but look at the tombstone in the upper-right of the screen (time-stamped):

 

[BruiserBrody]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1852052501287309756

 

[BruiserBrody]

 

[snuffbox]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1852052501287309756

Girls have to beat his meat if they like it or not

 

[Valeyard]

It's sort of a failing of the modern age and AI Trump isn't singing "Common Man."

 

[BruiserBrody]

It's sort of a failing of the modern age and AI Trump isn't singing "Common Man."

Can I win POTY if I bring BrodyVision out of retirement with this?
With the current board, all 12 active posters would have to be on the ballot.

 

[Valeyard]

You should never have stopped.