Wrestling TidBits - 09/20
Herb Kunze
- Rumours have it that the Legion of Doom are already gettng upset because
they thought they'd be in a title match program against the WWF tag
champs. They likely won't get the shot until the new year, with a
build-up to WrestleMania. In the latest issues of the NWA Wrap-Up, the
NWA said that "Hawk and Animal have left the NWA. They have decided to
pursue their career where the focue is on entertainment rather than
wrestling." 'Nuff said.
- Davey Boy Smith will be at the October 21st house show in Toronto.
- Ric Flair is definitely on a down-spin. He lost to Sting on Sunday at
the Cobo Hall in Detroit and couldn't beat Luger for the US belt the
week before at the Clash. Why is the NWA abusing this guy? It looks
like they're setting up an angle involving the team of Arn Anderson & Ric
vs. Doom for the World straps. Rumours has it that Ric and Double A will
take the belts at Halloween Havoc. In the mean time, we're all left
wondering what Flair's new gimmick will be, now that Jim Herd has
apparently decided that it's time for a change. Flair's new gimmick
can't be as bad as...
- ...Saba Simba, who debuted this weekend on the WWF syndies. I always
kinda liked Tony Atlas, until he failed to appear to testify against Jose
Gonzales for the murder of Bruiser Brody. And now, I've lost all respect
I may ever have had for the guy. This new gimmick makes Kamala or the
Samoans seem dignified. Can you imagine a feud between Saba Simba and
Akeem in order to determine who the better African athlete is? And then
Saba is sure to feud with jungle-mate Jimmy Snuka. Blech.
- Gorilla Monsoon should be back on his syndie show this weekend. The big
guy had some diabetes complications as well as foot trouble.
- Bob Orton is also returning in the near future to the WWF. Mark Callas
should be in soon, too. Paul Diamond is history.
- Tully Blanchard, who has been doing a church tour preaching against drug
abuse and has said he's retired, plans to get even more involved in the
church.
- The Black Scorpion that Sting wrestled at the Clash was Al Perez in
costume. The Black Scorpion interview tapes are Ole Anderson in a hood.
The *real* Black Scorpion is apparently going to be the Angel Of Death.
- Question: Why the heck is Rocky King managing/accompanying the
Freebirds?
- I can't believe that I'm actually happy about Terry Taylor's return to
the NWA. I've always thought that this guy could be one hell of a worker
if used correctly - I can hope.
- Owen Hart is now saying he'll join the NWA in January, moved back from
December (moved back from Novemebr, moved back from September).
- They taped a batch of Family Feud shows this week (which somebody else
reported will air next week...) featuring the NWA vs. GLOW. No idea who
the GLOW ladies will be, but the NWA wrestlers are: Sting, Luger,
Pillman, Zenk and Armstrong.
Herb...
As always, comments, criticisms, and questions are encouraged and appreciated.
***********************************************************************
* Herb Kunze * "Whether you like it or not, *
* Applied Math Department * learn to live with it, 'cause *
* University of Waterloo * I'm the best thing going today!" *
* hek...@watmsg.waterloo.edu * - Ric 'Nature Boy' Flair *
* hek...@water.waterloo.edu * *
***********************************************************************
Harry Thiel
> kinda liked Tony Atlas, until he failed to appear to testify against Jose
> Gonzales for the murder of Bruiser Brody. And now, I've lost all respect
> I may ever have had for the guy. This new gimmick makes Kamala or the
> Samoans seem dignified. Can you imagine a feud between Saba Simba and
> Akeem in order to determine who the better African athlete is? And then
> Saba is sure to feud with jungle-mate Jimmy Snuka. Blech.
Can you give more details on Bruiser Brody? I didn't know that he
was murdered. I just thought he had died of steriods or an accident.
Didn't Atlas have to appear or go to jail? I would like to know more
if you have any information.
Yes the Saba Simba crap stinks.
Harry
Herb Kunze
> Can you give more details on Bruiser Brody? I didn't know that he
> was murdered. I just thought he had died of steriods or an accident.
> Didn't Atlas have to appear or go to jail? I would like to know more
> if you have any information.
I'll do the best I can from memory, and I'm sure others here can fill
in any gaps. Bruiser Brody was working in Puerto Rico some time in
July, 1988, I believe. Apparenty there were all kinds of American
wrestlers in or around the locker room with Brody before the incident
that took his life too place. Those that come to mind include Tony
Atlas, Dutch Mantell, Mark & Chris Youngblood. In any case, Jose
Gonzales (aka Invader #1), part owner of the WWC, called Brody into
the bathroom/shower that's built off the main locker room. Seconds
later there was a scream and as the wrestlers streamed into the bathroom,
they found Brody lying on the floor, the victim of a stabbing.
Things are a little sketchy here in my memory, but I believe that the
murder weapon (Brody died the next day) was not found. Gonzales was
of course charged with murder and all of the American wrestlers left
Puerto Rico.
Tony Atlas did an interview in one of the "Pro Wrestling Illustrated"
family of magazines, detailing what he had heard and seen and essentially
calling Gonzales a murderer.
The promotion starting doing all kinds of spots on Gonzales, trying to
build him up as a real family man. That way by the time the trial rolled
around, Gonzales was once against looked upon as a strong babyface.
As far as the trial goes, Gonzales basically pleaded self defense. None
of the Americans showed up for to testify. Gonzales was found not
guilty.
This is where things get interesting. The Americans I mentioned as being
in the locker room stay in my memory because of what happened after the
fact: Tony Atlas claimed he was the victim of death threats and was
never extradited for testimony, the Youngbloods returned to the promotion
and became the tag champs, and Dutch Mantell's plane ticket arrived after
the trial.
The whole thing seems like a farce and, to this day, I haven't heard an
explanation of what happened in that locker room to take the life of perhaps
the greatest star this sport has seen.
Herb...
Gary.Will
> The whole thing seems like a farce and, to this day, I haven't heard an
> explanation of what happened in that locker room to take the life of perhaps
> the greatest star this sport has seen.
I always liked Bruiser Brody, but I have to say that Herb's last sentence
really jumped out at me as something quite incompatible with my perceptions
of professional wrestling. To me, Brody was certainly an above-average
performer, but I would NEVER put him anywhere NEAR the likes of Killer
Kowalski, Edouard Carpentier, Lou Thesz, Harley Race, Ric Flair, Bruno
Sammartino, Bobo Brazil, Dory Funk Jr, Gene Kiniski, or any one of
a dozen or more others that I think would all be better candidates for
the title of "the greatest star this sport has seen."
Have I missed something, or is this transcendent view of Brody idiosyncratic
to Herb? The more I think about it, the more names I come up with that
I would place without hesitation above Brody's in the all-time gallery
of the greats (to steal Guitar Player magazine's category). I'd be
interested to hear Herb's reasons for having such a amazingly high
opinion of Brody (or from anyone else with similar opinions).
--Gary Will
Wojo
Tonight said (when he died) that he and Hulk Hogan were the two most favorite
wrestlers in Japan. It seems like in Japan, you can wrestle with people in
different federations or the same side.
Ex.
Jake Roberts vs. Big Bossman
Hulk Hogan vs. Stan Hansen
--
************************************************************************
Jeff Wojtalewicz (Wojo) jmwo...@vela.acs.oakland.edu
Oakland University Start Hacking
************************************************************************
Herb Kunze
I struggled with this last line a bit too before accepting the post.
At first I was going to go back and change "wrestler" to "phenom" or
something like that, but decided to leave it, thinking that "wrestler"
was a better description of Brody (as opposed to Hogan, who is a "phenom").
Anyhow, your list of wrestlers, with the exception of Ric Flair & Harley
Race (to a lesser degree) are from a slightly different era in wrestling.
I've always had trouble comparing somebody like Gene Kiniski to Ric Flair
(or Randy Savage, say). The sport has changed so much with the advent of
PPVs, the media blitz, the link to Rock & Roll, etc. that a wrestler from
times past is a quite different animal. My point is that when I say "of
all time" I'm probably measuring on today's yardstick, which takes other
things into account.
That having been said, I would without hesitation agree that Ric Flair is
the best worker that North American wrestling has seen. His interviews
are usually incredible, his charisma is great, and he can really control a
crowd. Perhaps Brody doesn't measure up to him on many individual scales,
but there's something about the overall package that always left me
awe-struck. The bottom line is that I'm rarely disappointed with a
Ric Flair match and practically never disappointed with a Brody match.
Then again I see a lot more Ric Flair matches.
It's probably important to realize that Brody was probably the most popular
wrestler ever to work in Japan. The fans - a high majority of them "smart"
fans - were smitten with the guy. Perhaps if he could have made the same
kind of living in NA as in Japan, we would have seen more of him here.
As it was, when he did work in NA, he rarely worked in the major leagues
- I was always amazed that he held the status he did considering his
lack of "World Class" competition.
When Brody was murdered, I couldn't think of any other people in
pro-wrestling except Ric Flair & Hulk Hogan, whose deaths could have
had as much of an impact on the sport.
I guess that the status I grant Brody is probably my own little quirk
and I doubt whether others on the net would place the guy on their all
time greats list.
Herb...
Bill Lewandowski
Tokyo 83-85 and he was always on TV. He did an interview with the
Stars & Stripes while I was there and it was pretty interesting.
Did not see Hogan at all while I was there but I know Wrestling is
"Big Time" (more so than the US) in Japan.
Bill