JoeyB

Much respect to MeanSpleen for starting a WWE thread, which is going to continue to be incredibly popular.

He is doing a fantastic job of keeping the current (and recent) rosters straight, but let's go back a bit.

Let's talk about anything from the time when the video was a bit grainier and the shows couldn't be found without staying up until 4:00 in the morning and sticking the antenna out of your bedroom window.

With Freddie Blassie passing away this week, we've lost another link to a generation. Blassie was the voice of the most vicious wrestlers, The Grand Wizard stood beside the smartest of the rasslers and Capt. Lou Albano would handle men from the islands or other misfit tag teams.

We didn't see Blassie and his henchmen for the first 45 minutes of the show and we wouldn't necessarily see him every week, but when we saw him--it changed the complection of the show. There were no bad guys who were cheered. When you saw Blassie leading out Ivan Koloff, you knew you hated him. You may not have known exactly why...but you knew you hated him.

Blassie ruled.

Am I crazy?

RedCometChar

I can't believe this is the first I'm hearing of Classy's passing. A credit to his profession, and a true showman.

I hardly ever watch wrestling now (not that I actively dislike the direction it's taken- simply got out of the habit) , but during the '80s, I never missed it. I watched everything- the old NWA, G.L.O.W. (although they came on after midnight and my dad had to tape them for me- cool guy) and anything else in between.

As talented as Blassie was, my favorite manager was always the inscrutable Mr. Fuji. Sinister man from the East!

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Killing that robot makes me want to go home.

Daval

I was a massive mark of the british bulldogs and the team of Greg Valantine and Brutus Beefcake. I used to love those tag teams.

My favourite all time singles wrestler was Ricky 'The Dragon' Steamboat.

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"It is impossible to obtain a conviction for sodomy from an English jury. Half of them don't believe that it can physically be done, and the other half are doing it."
Winston Churchill

HamiC

Believe it or not, I actually went to the first Wrestlemania some twenty-odd years ago.

At the time, I was a big fan of Ivan "The Polish Hammer" Putzky and Rocky Johnson (The Rock's dad). Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka was jumping off Andre the Giant's shoulders and the only other really big guy was Big John Stud.

If memory serves, Bob Baklund was the WWF men's champion at the time and the Fabulous Moula was the ladies champ.

.....and yes, I believed in my heart that it was real.

RedCometChar

My favorite tag-team were the Bushwhackers (Cousin Luke! Cousin Butch!) and if they weren't around, then I liked Hawk and Animal. Singles-wise, I liked the Iron Sheik, and toward the end of the '80s, the Ultimate Warrior.

Also of note were the announcers- things aren't the same without Lord Alfred Hayes and Gene Okerlund. And does anyone remember the corny sketches that the wrestlers did between matches?

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Killing that robot makes me want to go home.

Prophecy

My favorite old school tag team was the LoD, I just like Animal & Hawk. The Bushwackers looked funny walking around licking people....

My favorite singles wrestler has to be "The greatest there ever was and the greatest there ever will be" The Hitman Bret Hart

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La Disciplina È La Mia Spada,
La Fede È Il Mio Schermo,
Non salti Ciecamente In Incertezza,
E Potete Raccogliere Le Ricompense.

Cynthetiq

damn... Blassy is gone... he's the guy who also sang Pencil Neek Geek...

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DonnieBoy

I loved watching rastlin' in the 80's

My favorite tag team was a toss up between "Hart Foundation" (sp)?? Bret Hart and the Anvil!

As for singles

I absouletly loved

Honky Tonk Man!

also
Mr. Perfect
Macho Man Randy Savage (OH YEAHHHH)
(His part in spider-man was quite creepy imo)
Ultimate Warrior


I watched a pretty funny wrestling movie the other day "Ready to Rumble" and after that i tried to watch a little bit of wrestling but it just doesn't seem to be as good as when i was a kid.

DB

VirFighter

Give me Scott Hall, I loved this guy.

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"The South is gonna boogie again"
- Disco Stu

JoeyB

What I remember about early wrestling was that the interviews were saved for the bottom of the hour. When the show was about 25 minutes in, I would get very excited knowing that the interview segment was coming up.

The arena was empty, because the interviews had been taped hours before the show. A much younger Vince McMahon would interview Andre the Giant, Bob Backlund and the Wild Samoans would come out, tear up a chicken and that meant the interview segment was over.

Once the poultry is destroyed, it's time to go.

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My mom is a Diamondbacks fan. She really likes the Big Unit