So this isn't really a PPV, it was an event that happened before PPV was really mainstream. It still stands as the biggest wrestling show ever to happen in the America's and when you consider that's two continents worth of wrestling that is quite an achievement, but the thing that made it stand out aside from its enormity is the fact that so many calculated risks where taken in its inception. The show of course is Wrestlemania III. The second biggest show of all time, and the biggest show that had paying guests as opposed to an audience forced to be their by a dictatorial communist government, no kidding this actually happened.
As well documented Vince McMahon risked everything on the first Wrestlemania. His own family's considerable fortune amassed as the lead promoters of the New York territory in an effort to make wrestling a major national contributor to popular culture. Wrestlemania 2, while an incredible effort in logistics, three events ran in three different cities coast to coast, was merely a stepping stone to the all conquering, record setting, humungaloid freak of a show that was Wrestlemania III, but if you look down the card there was political intrigue at every turn. A main event that could have been a disaster waiting to happen, an IC title match that was planned to the finest detail, wrestlers on the verge of physical breakdown and at the head of it all one man whose belief in his abilities as a booker would serve him well for the next twenty years when he would rule the wrestling world and set the tone for everyone else to follow with this one spectacular night.
Let's start at the bottom and work our way up;
The Can Am Connection vs. Cowboy Bob Orton and Don Muraco.
This had potential to be a good opener and really it set the tone, the soon to be gone Tom Zenk was a good partner for Martel but not as good as Tito Santana (more of him later) in the Strike Force team that was just around the championship corner, but a solid opener.
Billy Jack Haynes vs Hercules
The sign of things to come; two very good looking and actually very solid workers producing a submission based brawl that would be the blue print for the Warlord Davey Boy Smith feud some years later that seemed to go on for years. Looking back now you remember two things; one they where 'roided to fuck and two guys that muscled can't go that hard for long. So you get an entertaining but short match.
Hillbilly Jim, The Haiti Kid and Little Beaver vs King Kong Bundy, Little Tokyo and Lord Littlebrook
Well where do you start? What King Kong Bundy had done to deserve this nobody knows, but going from the main event to this comedy spectacular was not on the long term cards and Bundy was done in mainstream wrestling after this débâcle. Just goes to show what comes up must come down.
The Junkyard Dog vs Harley Race (with Bobby Heenan and the Fabulous Moolah)
If one match epitomises what Vince had done to wrestling, this is it. JYD fresh from his stadium filling run in Mid South. Harley Race then the most successful NWA champion of all time, Bobby Heenan the greatest manager in AWA history, and The Fabulous Moolah the longest reigning NWA Women's Champion ever. Faces from different times and places brought together under one company. Race hadn't been there long. He had been promoting Saint Louis, taking over from the Thesz family, in the 80s. He didn't like the idea of giving up the business to go with Vince and fought it tooth and nail, threatening WWF promoters with acid and slashing tires at one point. The bitterness may have stemmed from how Vince handled Starcade two years earlier. Knowing that Mid Atlantic where going to get the jump on the WWF with a major nationally televised show with Starcade where Race was due to drop the NWA title to Ric Flair, Vince made Harley an offer he thought he couldn’t refuse. This happened over a polite dinner in New York. It ended up with Vince begging on his knees when it turned out that it was indeed an offer Harley could refuse. Being loyal to the NWA was part of Harley's deal and he wanted to be there for Ric. The result was that Starcade was a huge success and the wrestling wars lasted about 15 years longer than they would have done if Harley had signed then and there as the NWA champion. So you have JYD who wasn't that good to start with and an under appreciated Harley Race, so you can imagine how this one worked out.
The Fabulous Rougeaus (Jacques and Raymond) vs The Dream Team (Greg Valentine and Brutus Beefcake) (with Johnny Valiant and Dino Bravo)
This one was another short but fun packed effort with the struggling face Rougeaus up against the dream team plus Dino Bravo. It was kind of a French Canadian hoe down, with a turn for Brutus Beefcake which would morph into more successful things down the line. However it never hurts to be friends with Hulk Hogan I have to say.
Roddy Piper vs Adrian Adonis (with Jimmy Hart)
And now we get into the card proper. Piper had announced this as his retirement bout (oh how we laughed), really he was taking time off to film They Live and Hell Comes to Frogtown, two wonderfully bad movies that you should take a look at from a guilty pleasure point of view. Here he is with the late great Adrian Adonis working a homosexual gimmick that looks ridiculously dated in this day and age. We live in more enlightened times but this one had heat down to Roddy who was of course the most hated wrestler on the planet two years before and now one of the most beloved. Piper was that talented it was hard not to root for him even as a heel, so why not turn him face? Not his greatest moment in the ring, he needed Bret Hart for that, but a wonderful crowd popping with genuine emotion, so well worth a watch.
The British Bulldogs (Davey Boy Smith and The Dynamite Kid) and Tito Santana vs The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart) and Danny Davis (with Jimmy Hart)
This could have been a classic. Three of the competitors where world class, but it never really got going because of the time issue. Dynamite said in his biography that he wasn't happy with the match because it involved Tito and Danny Davis. Davis was a heel referee who had fast counted on The Bulldogs and Tito costing them the Tag and IC titles respectively. Dynamite didn't dislike either Davis or Santana his main issue was that they had to split the money three ways on each team instead of two which to a man who had just spent three months in hospital with spinal fractures, was a bitter pill to swallow. This was good but not great. Dynamite was on the slow downhill slide to being in a wheel chair and the extra members on board hurt a match that could have flown, but hey the all got on the biggest card in company history and not everyone got that opportunity.
Koko B. Ware vs Butch Reed (with Slick)
This one was what Vince calls a palette cleanser. He anticipated that the six man would be a great match, it was good but not great, and this was the throwaway fluff to get you back on track. Not bad for throwaway fluff mind. Koko was always underrated as was Reed. Koko, as popular as he was, never found his groove in the WWF, but he was the man who brought the Brainbuster to prominence in the US. Even if it is banned now in the WWE.
Ricky Steamboat (with George Steele) vs Randy Savage (c) (with Miss Elizabeth)
For many this was the real main event of Wrestlemania III. The pure wrestling match a lot of people anticipated and it delivered. It was a match well planned in advance. In an interview Ricky Steamboat once was asked what was the difference between wrestling Savage and wrestling Flair (whom he feuded with later over the NWA title and had numerous 5 star matches with). Steamboat replied “it was just different, with Randy I had to remember 25 spots in a row, with Ric we just made it up as we went along”. Savage was notorious for planning his matches to the minutest of details and this one was no different. That preparation paid off as the delivered this classic that still stands up today as how to tell a roller-coaster ride of a story and deliver in the ring. Almost perfect.
Jake “The Snake” Roberts (with Alice Cooper) vs The Honky Tonk Man (with Jimmy Hart)
This one was a long way from perfect. Though Jake was a competent wrestler he was never blinding for in ring action. His understanding of psychology though was second to none. Honky could go when he wanted to, and in this setting he was going to do well or look awful, but the tone of this match was a set in an interview months before on The Snake Pit when Honky hit Jake with a guitar so hard it smashed two vertebrae. The result was a much slower moving Jake, though you possibly couldn't notice because he had a lot of tricks to cover his tracks. This was again what it said on the tin, a revenge story that was simply and effectively told, but could have been so much better, if someone had got Honky a K Mart special in that interview.
The Killer Bees (B. Brian Blair and Jim Brunzell) vs The Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff (with Slick)
Palette cleanser number 2, just well what can you say? Terrible? Doesn't really cover it, just really really bad and the B's where not at fault.
Hulk Hogan vs André the Giant (with Bobby Heenan)
As political stories go, this one tops the lot. So much could have gone wrong with this one match. Vince had it in mind for quite some time, all of these shows where planned nearly a year in advance so as the curtain closed on WM2 Vince must have been thinking how can I really grab people's attention? André was the only nationally known star anywhere near Hogan's popularity by this point. The number two baby face for the company, but he had no way of getting up that ladder. He also knew he was getting close to the end of his time in the spotlight. 15 years a main eventer, 15 years of blood sweat and toil on three continents and not one title to show for it. André was the show, he travelled just like the NWA champion did but never wore the belt. So Vince surmised correctly that a title match for André would be big business, and something André would be very interested in, he was correct. The thing is André was beloved by fans in the US, so they had to turn him heel, which to American fans was a revelation. Being given a chance to be creative André excelled in this new role. In actuality he had been a heel for years in Japan and had the psychology down to a T, he was just being given chance to prove it. Vince also knew he had to be in shape to look like a threat to Hogan. So Pat Patterson would pick up André every day and drive him to Vince's house to make sure he used the gym. It was part of the deal André had to make to get the biggest match of all time.
On the other side of the equation, Hulk Hogan was a worried man. Sure he was main eventing the biggest match in North America ever, he was riding high in popular culture as well as the wrestling world, but André the Giant? That's something else. As a former IWGP Heavyweight Champion, Hulk was more than aware of what André was capable of when the mood took him. He could get drunk, he could get angry, he could get angry AND drunk, usually the worst André as Akira Maeda found out. What if André went into business for himself? There really is nothing you can do with a man that size when he decides not to cooperate. Thankfully for all involved there was no incident. André did his job and everything went happily.
No man was happier that night than Vincent Kennedy McMahon. Pat Patterson tells the story that as a co creator of this event he wanted to get the feel and emotions of the fans. So he stepped out into the crowd during the main event, as he realised the magic happening before him a tear filled his eyes and as he wiped them away he looked over and there was Vince, crying as well. He said “you did it” Vince replied “I am glad we did because I put it all on the line tonight”, for the second time in three years Vince gambled his company on one night and really one match. With that match thought he stacked the deck in his favour, and had the boss hand for another ten years.
Enjoy the show.
Monday, 14 October 2013
One Night in Gothenburg
Sweden! Oh your beautiful fjords, endless supply of blonde air stewardesses (apprently) and pro wrestling. Yup pro wrestling. I discovered this little gem of a PPV while searching for matches featuring Jenny Sjödin. For those of you who don't know who Miss Sjödin is she is a very accomplished grappler and pro wrestler. Meaning she is a genuine hard case as well as a top Euro Joshi talent. I had heard great things about her and wondered if she was as good as all that. Turns out she is. Anyone who grew up on All Japan Women and was trained by Fergal Devitt is pretty much going to be all right in my book, but she has a star quality and the skills to back it up.
That aside of course having watch the first match it would be rude not watch the rest and I was pleasantly surprised. GBG's Night of Thunder is a tight show in the European style with a healthy dose of characters and a mix of grappling, high flying and straight up brawling. It reminded me greatly of Chikara, especially in its early days. The setting is a night club, but they clearly look after their audience. VIP seating areas with champagne hats a plenty. Their main crowd is pretty much what I would expect to see at a niche indie show like Lucha Britannia or Chikara; punks and hipsters on a night out you also get more hipsters in the ring itself. Sporting sleeve tats and ill advised beards hardly any of these guys are going to make the cover of Muscle and Fitness, but they know their crowd and know how to work. They even have one guy, Kid Gorgeous who is clearly a total hipster heel, cutting a promo on how he has tricked out his fixie in a calm moderated tone. Its in Swedish, but you get the gist. Anyone who can take the piss out of their own audience and fill a nightclub while putting it on IPPV is doing the right things. The ring work is competent if not spectacular, the outstanding performer is clearly Sjödin, she has the background and training to make things seem effortless, but there are competent aerialists with a good understanding of modern wrestling.
The work is not state of the art, but that is no bad thing. No one takes a ridiculous bump, no one is blading, in fact there is not a drop of blood in sight and the fans are a lapping it up. As Jim Cornette has said many times, when you do the big stuff it's harder to make the small stuff work. You can often tell more about a wrestling company from its fan reaction than you can from the performances in the ring, really check out Terry Funk in 70's Japan, the crowd sits their as quiet as lambs while Terry gives it his all yet he was the most over gaijin ever in Japan at the time. At a guess there are probably very few full time performers on this card and it is hard to give your all when you have work Monday morning. Much like the British performers of old, who saved the risky stuff for when they really needed to do it. The result is an old school feel and and old school response. Some top comedy, (wrestling has the international language of prat falls going for it), with some seriously scary looking heels makes for a great few hours entertainment. I am sorry I can't give you much more information but their website offers the following clues to their existence;
GBG Wrestling started in 2002 in Gothenburg darkest docklands and has since grown to become Sweden's most professional, extravagant and impressive wrestling federation. GBG Wrestling gives its audience an experience and feeling that can not be found in any form of entertainment anywhere. Good is set against evil, speed pitted against strength, cunning pitted against honor - and blood, sweat and tears are sure to flow, every time. You MUST see GBG Wrestling live to fully understand, and to fully experience the priceless feeling of being a part of the magical atmosphere created, the wrestlers and the audience together. Intrigues and conflict followed up in the ring and there is always something to make up for. Come and look, roar, cry and cheer. Today is owned and controlled GBG Wrestling unanimously by Lady Dolores, the union president.
There isn't a whole lot more to say about GBG. Just cause I can't find much on them. They clearly run professional slick and entertaining shows. So enjoy Night of Thunder. That's all till next week.
That aside of course having watch the first match it would be rude not watch the rest and I was pleasantly surprised. GBG's Night of Thunder is a tight show in the European style with a healthy dose of characters and a mix of grappling, high flying and straight up brawling. It reminded me greatly of Chikara, especially in its early days. The setting is a night club, but they clearly look after their audience. VIP seating areas with champagne hats a plenty. Their main crowd is pretty much what I would expect to see at a niche indie show like Lucha Britannia or Chikara; punks and hipsters on a night out you also get more hipsters in the ring itself. Sporting sleeve tats and ill advised beards hardly any of these guys are going to make the cover of Muscle and Fitness, but they know their crowd and know how to work. They even have one guy, Kid Gorgeous who is clearly a total hipster heel, cutting a promo on how he has tricked out his fixie in a calm moderated tone. Its in Swedish, but you get the gist. Anyone who can take the piss out of their own audience and fill a nightclub while putting it on IPPV is doing the right things. The ring work is competent if not spectacular, the outstanding performer is clearly Sjödin, she has the background and training to make things seem effortless, but there are competent aerialists with a good understanding of modern wrestling.
The work is not state of the art, but that is no bad thing. No one takes a ridiculous bump, no one is blading, in fact there is not a drop of blood in sight and the fans are a lapping it up. As Jim Cornette has said many times, when you do the big stuff it's harder to make the small stuff work. You can often tell more about a wrestling company from its fan reaction than you can from the performances in the ring, really check out Terry Funk in 70's Japan, the crowd sits their as quiet as lambs while Terry gives it his all yet he was the most over gaijin ever in Japan at the time. At a guess there are probably very few full time performers on this card and it is hard to give your all when you have work Monday morning. Much like the British performers of old, who saved the risky stuff for when they really needed to do it. The result is an old school feel and and old school response. Some top comedy, (wrestling has the international language of prat falls going for it), with some seriously scary looking heels makes for a great few hours entertainment. I am sorry I can't give you much more information but their website offers the following clues to their existence;
GBG Wrestling started in 2002 in Gothenburg darkest docklands and has since grown to become Sweden's most professional, extravagant and impressive wrestling federation. GBG Wrestling gives its audience an experience and feeling that can not be found in any form of entertainment anywhere. Good is set against evil, speed pitted against strength, cunning pitted against honor - and blood, sweat and tears are sure to flow, every time. You MUST see GBG Wrestling live to fully understand, and to fully experience the priceless feeling of being a part of the magical atmosphere created, the wrestlers and the audience together. Intrigues and conflict followed up in the ring and there is always something to make up for. Come and look, roar, cry and cheer. Today is owned and controlled GBG Wrestling unanimously by Lady Dolores, the union president.
There isn't a whole lot more to say about GBG. Just cause I can't find much on them. They clearly run professional slick and entertaining shows. So enjoy Night of Thunder. That's all till next week.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)