Pro Wrestling History Thread

[flowwiththego]

Viet Cong Express in Stampede
Zambuie Express

I have the feeling I am missing something obvious

 

[Big Burly]

Porkchops Cash!

 

[Prime Shane Douglas]

I posted earlier about the use of the word Express for tag teams in the 80's -90's.
I remember:
US Express
Midnight Express
Rock n Roll Express
Orient Express(the least sucessful of the express tag teams)
Is that all of them or did I forget a few?

As the Orient Express they were not that successful, but as Bad Company they had a pretty good run in the AWA.

 

[Prime Shane Douglas]

Viet Cong Express in Stampede
Zambuie Express

I have the feeling I am missing something obvious

Not obvious and really old school is The PYT Express (Norvell Austin & Koko Ware)

 

[BRF]

USA Express? Windham and Rotundo

Don't credit me, I did a search.

 

[44nutman]

USA Express? Windham and Rotundo

Don't credit me, I did a search.

I already mentioned them but they were called the U.S Express and not the USA Express. I should know, I almost came to tears as a kid when they lost to the Iron Sheik and Nicolia Volkoff at Wrestlemania I.
When Rotunda came back years later, as IRS I was like WTF that is Mike Rotunda.

Rotunda's best work was in the Varsity Club. Kevin Sullivan does not get enough credit for his skills on the mic and building a character.

 

[BRF]

I already mentioned them but they were called the U.S Express and not the USA Express. I should know, I almost came to tears as a kid when they lost to the Iron Sheik and Nicolia Volkoff at Wrestlemania I.
When Rotunda came back years later, as IRS I was like WTF that is Mike Rotunda.

Rotunda's best work was in the Varsity Club. Kevin Sullivan does not get enough credit for his skills on the mic and building a character.

Hell I didn't even notice. I just googled tag teams with the express name and that was the only one I saw that I didn't remember reading.

 

[Prime Shane Douglas]

Hell I didn't even notice. I just googled tag teams with the express name and that was the only one I saw that I didn't remember reading.

LOL, I was on another website about wrestling and was looking at a profile of Koko B. Ware. That's how I came across the PYT Express. Never heard of them honestly. Must have been a 80s Memphis thing...

 

[Prime Shane Douglas]

What about this one? It's the only one I remember.... One of my favorite matches with a babyface manager. Jim Cornette, love him or hate him (and there really is no in between with him), he knew how to work any style.

Bobby Eaton still has one of the best finishers ever, the Alabama Jam.

 

[Tooth and Nail]

USA Express? Windham and Rotundo

Don't credit me, I did a search.

I saw them live at an early WWF taping. Their theme song was Born in The USA. I saw a lot of big names at that show. Macho Man being the biggest and most important to me back then.

 

[44nutman]

RRX-vs-MX

A history of all the matched between the Rock n Roll Express and the Midnite Express.
They wrestled a bunch of matches over a 3- 4 year period. Feuds don't last that long now. 6 months tops.

This cracked me up.
Ron Garvin & Dusty Rhodes & Barry Windham & Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson defeated Big Bubba, Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard, & Bobby Eaton & Stan Lane
(when Eaton submitted to Rhodes' figure-4 in a Wargames Match)

I never knew Dusty used the figure-4.
Big Bubba = Big Bossman.

 

[Big Burly]

Rhodes used the Figure Four off and on. He also used the "Weaver Lock," which was supposed to have been Johnny Weaver's sleeper hold. He also used his "Bionic Elbow" drop as a finisher.

Duthty called it his Weeevahlock!

As a kid in the 70s and early 80s, any appearance by StarDust marked me out hard! I remember his feud with Ernie Ladd. Wow, could those two cut some serious promos on each other. To this day, I remember Dusty talking about beating Ladd in Miami, Florida, by saying it was "Moon over Miami." Hilarious! And then Ladd called the Dream a "dirty yellah dawg" and especially "Dirty" Rhodes.

Ernie Ladd may have been pretty broken down physically when he was a wrestler from his pro football days, but his mouth was definitely in fine condition for excellent promos.

 

[BrooklynBomber]

LOL, I was on another website about wrestling and was looking at a profile of Koko B. Ware. That's how I came across the PYT Express. Never heard of them honestly. Must have been a 80s Memphis thing...

Oh man, the PYTs were one of the very few Memphis acts that I really enjoyed. Koko and Norvell Austin were fucking great together. They wore matching red and black Michael Jackson leather jackets and rhinestone gloves, and were really probably the best workers in the territory. They were great asshole ****y heels and perfect psychologists at manipulatng the crowd.

Norvell really was the guy who actually did more of the storytelling in ring, and Koko could get everybody in the building standing with his dropkicks and high impact bump taking. Really great team. I wish in fact that they had brought Koko and Norvell into the WWE together as they would have had a nice run with all the great teams around at that time, but then again it could have been really easy for them to get lost in the shuffle, and Norvell didn't stick around long after.

 

[44nutman]

My first favorite wrestler, Bugsy McGraw. As a little kid, I fell for his crazy gimmick. I thought he was funny. Too bad he got buried in Texas by Fritz. Fritz never allowed anyone to be more popular than his boys.

 

[Savant21]

Any Puroresu fans in here?

 

[kayfabeforever]

What about this one? It's the only one I remember.... One of my favorite matches with a babyface manager. Jim Cornette, love him or hate him (and there really is no in between with him), he knew how to work any style.

Do you remember the SMW angle where he managed the Rock & Roll Express against the Gangstas?

 

[pine snake]

I saw Demolition as a cheap copy of the Road Warriors... Until I realized that one of them was the Masked Superstar! I about shit myself then!

I love Bill Eadie. What gave him away? His voice.

i love watching bob backlund matches. my favorite right nnow is when the masked superstar gave backlund the neckbreaker on the floor at msg.

 

[DoubleDrive]

Do you remember the SMW angle where he managed the Rock & Roll Express against the Gangstas?

Yes I do. I remember the angles building up to that made for really good TV. SMW TV still is one of my favorite wrestling tv shows ever.

 

[BrooklynBomber]

i love watching bob backlund matches. my favorite right nnow is when the masked superstar gave backlund the neckbreaker on the floor at msg.

Backlund is always fucking fun to watch. He was a pretty unselfish worker too as he could have manhandled damn near anyone he wanted to, but usually was very willing to sell his ass off for everyone he worked with and make them look like killers. You can watch his UWFi matches where his good nature is actually taken advantage of by guys like Minoru Tanaka and Masakatsu Funaki.

Bill Eadie is probably one of the most underrated workers of all time. He was equally great as the Superstar and as Ax, working completely different styles as both characters. A very cerebral guy too, as he pointed out in his promos that whenever he would say something he had to do it regardless of whether he was a babyface or heel, because if he didn't he loses all credibility.

Its a skill like that which kept The Rock from being an all time great promo guy in my eyes, because whenever The Rock "guarandamnteed" something it meant he was going over so there was a giveaway of the result right there. Same thing when Kurt Angle would say "Its true, its damn true" when speaking about a match.

Also the best part of the Gangstas in SMW? Their use of Affirmative Action to win matches with two counts. Fucking brilliant shit.

 

[Gregolian]

I hate to bring this up in this thread but WTF happened to the PW thread?