Pro Wrestling History Thread

[D.R.H.]

Heenan and Monsoon were fantastic together.

 

[flowwiththego]

I never really like Monsoon as a commentator, tbh. I just never thought he was good. Btw, Monsoon was a a very good wrestler in his college days and came close to winning an NCAA title (lost in the finals.) He had an unofficial role as Sr.'s locker room enforcer.
His greatest claim to fame was the Ali incident. That was designed to make Ali look very beatable in his match coming up against Inoki. Nobody was buying that Ali could be beaten by Inoki so they had him take a ride from monsoon. Ali was perfect in the role and sold like a veteran. Great stuff.
He owned a portion of the office and also owned a piece of Puerto Rico. One of the very few jobs that Bruno did was to Monsoon in Puerto Rico.
Sold his portion of the company to Jr (when Jr bought out Sr.)He did get a great deal in return--- an annoucing job and prelim wrestler money (plus) without having to wrestle.

 

[CCH]

Skandor Akbar (he was a great manager and should be in any discussion for best ever managers)

As long as we all acknowledge that the list is headed by Bobby Heenan, and it's not that close, we can agree Skandor can be there.

 

[CCH]

I never really like Monsoon as a commentator, tbh. I just never thought he was good. Btw, Monsoon was a a very good wrestler in his college days and came close to winning an NCAA title (lost in the finals.) He had an unofficial role as Sr.'s locker room enforcer.
His greatest claim to fame was the Ali incident. That was designed to make Ali look very beatable in his match coming up against Inoki. Nobody was buying that Ali could be beaten by Inoki so they had him take a ride from monsoon. Ali was perfect in the role and sold like a veteran. Great stuff.
He owned a portion of the office and also owned a piece of Puerto Rico. One of the very few jobs that Bruno did was to Monsoon in Puerto Rico.
Sold his portion of the company to Jr (when Jr bought out Sr.)He did get a great deal in return--- an annoucing job and prelim wrestler money (plus) without having to wrestle.

I think Monsoon on his own merits was lacking as an announcer, but when teamed with Heenan, the team was golden. JMO. Heenan was great no matter what, but I think Monsoon did his part well there.

 

[Strychnine]

I have an awesome friend of mine who got me into Japanese pro-wrestling and it's female counterpart, Joshi pro-wrestling. BTW, if you haven't played the Fire Pro-wrestling series, you are missing out. It's been out for a while in Japan and the latest version got ported to the PS2/PS3. You MUST get this game.



This video is from the Dreamcast version and the PS2/PS3 version is even better.

 

[D.R.H.]

I think Monsoon on his own merits was lacking as an announcer, but when teamed with Heenan, the team was golden. JMO. Heenan was great no matter what, but I think Monsoon did his part well there.

I agree. He and Heenan clicked on all levels.

 

[calcXinfinity]

Monsoon and Heenan on commentary always struck me as the whole being greater than the sum of it's parts. That being said, the closest I've ever come to crying while watching wrestling was when Heenan said, "I Just wish.....that Monsoon was here..." at his HOF induction. A Great Moment.

 

[Big Burly]

Oh, there is no argument from me that Heenan was the BEST manager ever. He was one of the very best talkers ever in pro wrestling, period.

But Skandor Akbar just doesn't get mentioned enough here, so I threw him in the all-time best managers list. I don't know where he would fall.

Heenan was gold.

 

[DoubleDrive]

I have a ton of respect for Skandor Akbar. He was a really underrated mind in the wrestling business. Toward the end he pretty much ran Dallas I hear.

Bobby Heenan is in a wing all by himself...

 

[Gregolian]

I feel so lost in this thread. I didn't start watching until like the tail end of 1997.


EDIT:
I figure this has been talked about once or twice in the other thread but where do the people here kinda place Benoit in terms of his spot in history. I know what he did to his family as well as himself was heinous and unforgivable but he I always thought was a good in-ring performer. Or am I just a newb?

 

[CCH]

Was I the only one who's parents wouldn't buy him the wrestling PPV's, so I'd sit by my TV, put on the PPV channel (this was before cable boxes, young'uns) and listen the PPV as it happened with my screen covered in static?

 

[Gregolian]

Was I the only one who's parents wouldn't buy him the wrestling PPV's, so I'd sit by my TV, put on the PPV channel (this was before cable boxes, young'uns) and listen the PPV as it happened with my screen covered in static?

Nope... I'm only 22 but did that once or twice that I can remember. Fuck, we still have a rotary phone in my house. Plugged in too.

 

[BRF]

Was I the only one who's parents wouldn't buy him the wrestling PPV's, so I'd sit by my TV, put on the PPV channel (this was before cable boxes, young'uns) and listen the PPV as it happened with my screen covered in static?

I used to do that when ppvs were basically the big 4 plus some in your house.

While taking breaks from watching Picasso porn of course.

By about 1997 I had a black box so I saw all of the ppvs for free. That box was actually how I found Pride FC as well. Used to watch the UFCs every month and then caught a Pride on a sunday night. I was hooked after that.

 

[Big Burly]

Don't feel bad, Gregolian. We are all learning in this thread.

I don't know all of the ins-and-outs of the politics and behind-the-scenes stuff of my fandom days.

I LOVED the Road Warriors! The intro to "Iron Man" played, they hit the ring and squashed the jobbers! AWESOME! I loved seeing their matches in other territories as they were being built up, essentially on loan from the Georgia office. They hit Memphis and took on Lawler and Idol. Hawk no-sold a piledriver from Lawler, which was cool as hell then because nobody did that. The RW also had a brief run in my beloved Mid-South area. I don't remember who they faced, but I remember that the LOD looked small in comparison. It may have been against Hacksaw Duggan and another huge dude.

 

[Big Burly]

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.

 

[Tooth and Nail]

Any Canadians in here remember All Star Wrestling? I think it was out of Manitoba. I used to watch it back in the mid 80s on Sundays after WWF. Al Tomco was the booker, and Rick Anderson was the main baby face I believe. A real little guy. There was also a big fat guy named Bundy Jr who was...surprise...a King Kong Bundy clone.

And yes I used to love Fire Pro Wrestling. It was what taught me about the Japanese mma/pro wrestling scene before youtube.

 

[DoubleDrive]

I used to do that when ppvs were basically the big 4 plus some in your house.

While taking breaks from watching Picasso porn of course.

By about 1997 I had a black box so I saw all of the ppvs for free. That box was actually how I found Pride FC as well. Used to watch the UFCs every month and then caught a Pride on a sunday night. I was hooked after that.

I had the same thing. The bar at the corner got every PPV and since I wasn't old enough to sit in there and watch them on Sunday nights without my mom or dad, they would tape them for me if I supplied the tapes which I did gladly.

Right around 1997 too I got Jerry Lynn's cheater box through a friend of mine in the biz and the PPV parties were at my house every weekend. Also where I discovered UFC and Pride as well.

 

[DoubleDrive]

Any Canadians in here remember All Star Wrestling? I think it was out of Manitoba. I used to watch it back in the mid 80s on Sundays after WWF. Al Tomco was the booker, and Rick Anderson was the main baby face I believe. A real little guy. There was also a big fat guy named Bundy Jr who was...surprise...a King Kong Bundy clone.

And yes I used to love Fire Pro Wrestling. It was what taught me about the Japanese mma/pro wrestling scene before youtube.

I worked for Tony Condello up there in the mid 90s. Those northern tours were brutal and not very cost effective on my budget. Winnipeg was a fun 6 hour drive from Minneapolis.

 

[DoubleDrive]

Was I the only one who's parents wouldn't buy him the wrestling PPV's, so I'd sit by my TV, put on the PPV channel (this was before cable boxes, young'uns) and listen the PPV as it happened with my screen covered in static?

I had a TV that I could fine tune and I could almost get the line to move over just enough to make out what was going on. Very static-y and would change every hour or so. I remember watching SummerSlam 88 that way and I remember the line came back just as Liz took off her dress... I was scrambling to tune that damn line out because Monsoon and Billy Graham made it sound like she was naked!

They went straight to the finish and I missed it all! Had to wait 6 months for the tape to come out and to the rental store!

 

[BrooklynBomber]

I had a black box, but from around 87-92 I had to be really picky about PPVs. Summerslam was always a given because of my birthday(88, 92, and 94 were all on my birthday), and Wrestlemania was always a purchase, but I had to really fight to see any other PPV and be choosy between the WWF and NWA/WCW. In 1992 I actually saved my birthday money so I could see Survivor Series.

I HATED having to choose between the Royal Rumble and Starrcade. That was never fun. Almost as bad as when another kid in your class saw the PPV and you didn't and he talked up how awesome it was.

And for the record, Bobby Heenan is not the greatest manager of all time. That's selling him short, he's the greatest entertainer ever in wrestling. He could bump in the ring and work a match, he was the best manager ever period, and he was a great color commentator. No one else can lay claim to doing all those things well, let alone as well as Bobby did.