8 Great Reasons to Love the 80's

Taking Some Time to Think About the 80's

Miss Caster has left me to fend for myself tonight as she has shuffled off to Buffalo's biggest 80's bash. I am enjoying the calm time at home and catching up on a few episodes of Breaking Bad. I spent most of the day sucked into the NFL Network's never ending coverage of the lockout that will never end. I am sure we will cover most of that on the podcast this Tuesday. Anyway, with Tammy at the 80's bash and after spending the last few nights working on a SummerSlamm88 blog, I got to thinking about what it is that makes the 1980's so special to us. 

In the summer of 2009, the death of Michael Jackson thrust my beloved decade back into the limelight. It seemed that no matter where you turned, people were discussing the music, movies, and sporting events that made the eighties so damn fantastic. Usually, I would have been thrilled to death with all of the special treatment that my beloved decade was receiving, but this time it had been ruined by all of the revisionist history and propaganda about a mutilated, boy-touching freak. Since then, I have been dying to come up with a list of the top reasons that I love the 80's so much. I might try to get Jimmy Traina from SI.COM's Hot Clicks to write one as well so that we can debate our lists on a future episode of The Sports-Casters. ESPN's Page 2 did a decent job highlighting some of the eighties best moments, here. Check it out if you want, but after you read my blog you wont need anymore proof that the eighties kicked ass.

8. Appetite for Destruction  

 

Sure, when it comes to music the 80's is kind of weak. But, the 80's did have Appetite. AFD was released in 1987, topped the Billboard 200 chart, became the fastest-selling debut record in history, and to this day has sold over twenty-eight million copies worldwide.

 

7. The Ronald Reagan Era

The "Reagan Revolution" has to be the sweetest nickname for any presidency (Do others have nicknames?). Reagan took over for one of the worst presidents in history (Carter) and while giving his inauguration speech (that he wrote himself) declared that, "Government is not the solution to our problems; government is the problem."

During his term as president, 52 U.S. hostages were released from Iran (after being held for 444 days, thanks for nothing Carter), the frigging Cold War ended, the Country's fight against drug abuse began, and Mr. Reagan became the only president in history to survive a gunshot wound. After being shot, Reagan was rushed to the hospital and underwent emergency surgery. While on the operating table, the wounded president joked with the responding doctors, "I hope all of you are republicans."

Mr. Reagan is generally ranked in the top 10 anytime a non-partisan scholar or historian ranks the forty-four U.S. Presidents.

6. The Birth of Adrian Peterson

On March 25, 1985 Adrian Peterson was born in Palestine, Texas. Since he is currently the greatest living human his birth had to crack the list. Adrian combines all of the qualities you could want in a sports star. Adrian is a role model and an ambassador for humanity.

I could go on and on listing all of the great things that Adrian has accomplished on the football field. I could recap the eight straight 100-yard games to start his career at Oklahoma. I could go on and on about that day a couple of months into his rookie season when Adrian had the single greatest day a running back has ever had in the history of the NFL. But, I won't. Instead, I want to give everyone a little insight into what a great person that Adrian Peterson is. Before you read any further, I ask that you read this article by ESPN's Rick Reilly. I have always said that Adrian is the anti-LeMarkitts Holland (If you skipped the article you are sure to have no idea who that is).

In Adrian's own words:

When I was about 8, we lived in Dallas. One day, my brother Brian - he was 9 and my best friend - was riding his bike with a buddy by a little field where I was playing football. This dude, a drunken driver, just hit him. I have a hard time talking about it. [A long pause; Adrian's voice grows soft] He kind of flew up in the air a little bit. I saw the whole thing happen, about five feet from where we were. It was crazy, man. Crazy.

I ran to him, got on my knees and kind of picked up his head and put it on my thigh. I said his name, but he didn't respond at all. He was brain-dead. Later, I had a chance to say good-bye. I was there when they took him off life support.

Losing him - actually seeing him get killed right there in front of me - made me a stronger person. My mom cried every night. Every night. Honest to God, she cried for a year. My mom and dad had split up by then, so I had to sit there, comfort her, be strong and not show my tears, even though I was hurting as much as she was.

I later heard Adrian say that when Brian died he realized he was living for two people. It could have been him that day, but it wasn't. Adrian decided that day that he needed to live his life to the fullest every day and accomplish all of the great things that Brian couldn't.

I love Adrian Peterson with all of my heart. I have no doubt in my mind that he will retire the greatest running back of all time. I am so glad I get to sit back every Sunday and enjoy the ride.

5. The 1987 New Orleans Saints

On September 13, 1987, the New Orleans Saints scored a 28-21 victory over the Cleveland Browns. The win was the start of what would be the first winning season in franchise history. The Saints were on their way to a 12-3 record and would go on to host their first playoff game. I had no idea any of it was happening.

I was only seven years old. I watched football every week, but it was usually just the Bills, and nothing they were doing was drawing me to them. I didn't care if they won. I didn't care if they lost. I barley blinked when Jerry Butler snapped his leg against the Dolphins.

Finally, on January 3, 1988 the 87' Saints took the field in the glorious Louisiana Superdome for the first time as a playoff team. I was couch side with my dad who told me all about their futile history filled with twenty straight losing seasons, zero hall of famers, and the fans with the bags (gag). He went on to tell me about their nine straight victories to close out the '87 regular season, how their brilliant GM Jim Finks had built the scariest group of line backers he had ever seen, and how a 27-year old kid from Baton Rogue, Louisiana had emerged from no where to be one of the best quarterbacks in the National Football League.

I was pumped. I was instantly a Saints fan. I had never felt like this watching football before. I cared about the outcome. I felt the same way I imagined my father did during a Bills game. There was no doubt in my mind that the Saints were going to kill the Vikings that day and go on to win the Super Bowl. A few minutes into the game Bobby Hebert (that kid from Baton Rogue) hit Eric Martin for a 10-yard touchdown and the dome went nuts. I went nuts. It was on. Then a crazy thing happened. The Vikings went on a 31-3 run to end the first half. I was devastated. It felt like I had woke up to coal on Christmas.

The outcome of the game didn't matter. I knew that from that point forward I was a fan of the New Orleans Saints. I knew I had a team to call my own. I had a reason to watch the games. After an over 20-year long investment filled with heartache, frustration, and anger the Saints finally made me a winner. The run that the Saints took me on from September of 2009 through Super Bowl XLIV was the most fun I will ever have as a sports fan. The moment that Tracy Porter intercepted Peyton Manning and I knew the Saints would win the Super Bowl I jumped into the arms of my brother and screamed at the top of my lungs. Sports had never felt so good.

4. The A-Team

For three straight years in the 80's, The A-Team was one of the most popular television shows in America. I feel like I could end this blog right now and have won the argument that the eighties were the greatest decade of all time. I will carry on though because my proof only gets better.

On January 30, 1983, shortly after the Redskins had defeated the Dolphins in Super Bowl XVII, the A-Team premiered to over a fourth of the television watching audience. The show combined the toughness of Mr. T, the zaniness of Dwight Schultz, and the wit of George Peppard with the charm of Dirk Benedict.

Every week was basically the same, but that was largely the brilliance of the show. Every Tuesday night, America cheered as The A-Team got over on criminals, terrorists, scumbags, and the government. Sure they were fugitives, but they didn't do anything wrong. Instead of running away to another country to hide from the authorities, The A-Team stayed in Southern California driving around in an unmistakable van, standing up for the common man, and defending freedom.

3. The Karate Kid

If you can think of a better movie for a twelve-year-old boy to watch two or three...hundred times, than let me know. TKK combines, trouble at home, trouble at school, and trouble with girls (the big three for any adolescent) with such ease and excitement that I still can't believe the screenwriter wasn't Christ himself (Kudos to you, Robert Mark Karmen).

The great Bill Simmons wrote an amazing article a few years ago detailing the greatness of The Karate Kid. I couldn't have said it better myself, but I do have a few personal comments to make about this masterpiece.

• Ali with an I gave me my first hard on. I didn't know what was going on or why, but I knew I liked it and her. Ali was dreamy, ohh, laa, and laa.
• If you want proof that this movie still holds up then play it for a group of pre-teen students. You will witness twenty boys drooling over Ali, cheering on Danielson, imitating Miyagi, and sneering at the Cobra Kai.
• I have one beef with Mr. Miyagi. Could he find a day or two of his time to fix up that pool? What does this guy do at work all day? He lives in a house that looks like it would be on the cover of a book about landscaping. His yard is filled with majestic fountains and perfectly trimmed bonsai trees, yet the pool he is paid to maintain has yellow water, growing algae, and rust from top to bottom. Shameful Miyagi, shameful.
• One of the guys in Cobra Kai is named, Bobby Brown. He is the scumbag that is called on to take out Danielson but after doing so immediately regrets the move and runs to Daniel in apology. Seconds after the apology, he is seen next to his sensei imploring Johnny to, "put him in a body bag." "Body bag," is a funny line for sure, but it is overrated when compared to his "What is this, take a worm for a walk week?" blast that he directed at Ali earlier in the film. Burn.

2. Wrestlemania III

On March 27, 1987, 93,173 people crammed into the Pontiac Sliverdome to witness the greatest wrestling extravaganza of all time. No other indoor sporting event in North America has ever recorded a higher attendance. One million others watched the event at 160 closed circuit locations in North America and several million others watched on pay-per-view.

The event was spectacular outside of just the attendance. The main event featured the great Hulk Hogan successfully defending the WWF Heavyweight Championship of the World against Andre the Giant. The undercard featured the greatest wrestling match of all time as Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat defeated Randy Savage for the Intercontinental Championship. Also, the fans were treated to a fabulous six-man tag match that featured two of wrestling's all-time greatest technicians (Dynamite Kid and Bret Hart). Roddy Piper wrestled his first of many farewell matches; Nikolai Volkoff butchered the Russian national anthem (has anyone ever checked to see if he was actually singing the Russian anthem and not just chanting gibberish?), The Honky Tonk man exploded a guitar on the ring post, and a midget got squished in the middle of the ring by King Kong Bundy.

The event featured the WWF's always subtle but pleasing racism as the JYD was forced to bow at the feet of a white guy from Missouri (Harley Race), the only African American to score a victory was a guy with bleached hair called, "The Natural" (of course, he pinned a fellow African carrying a bird), and the black manager playing the role of pimp had his clothes stripped off by a Mexican that the announcers regularly ripped on for selling tacos and called, "Chico." What a night!

Celebrities such as Mary Hart, Bob Uecker, Aretha Franklin, and Alice Cooper were on hand to show what a great impact professional wrestling was having on pop culture. I know when I think of 80's celebrities if Mary hart doesn't come to mind first then Bob Uecker surely does.

How is this not number one?????

1. Miracle on Ice

USA 4 USSR 3

Take that you commie bastards!

Do you believe in miracles? YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

The Greatest Night in WWF History: Episode 2

Where the Mega Powers...Meet the Mega Bucks

In my opinion, wrestling has had two golden eras. The first started in 1984 when Hulk Hogan pinned the Iron Sheik at Madison Square Garden and ended when Lawrence Taylor met Bam Bam Bigelow in the main event of Wrestlemania XI (some might argue it ended a little earlier than that). The next golden era started with the Monday Night Wars, extended through the Attitude era, and ended when Vince McMahon purchased the WCW and split his company into two different brands (Raw/Smackdown).


Is it just me or does it feel like the WWE (there I did it) is on the verge of entering a new golden era? It feels like Vince McMahon just flopped a set and if he plays his cards right he can take all of the chips off the table. Last Sunday, the WWE impeccably booked their pay-per-view and set off a buzz around their form of entertainment not heard of since the Attitude era. CM Punk is at the front of this resurgence basically playing the Stone Cold Steve Austin role that surged the Attitude era into huge success. The basic plot is this, CM Punk is the WWE champion but he doesn't work for the company and he is missing with the belt. The next night on Raw, McMahon tried to fire John Cena for losing to Punk, but before he could do so Hunter Heart Helmsley entered the ring and fired Vince. 


The reaction from the mainstream media has reached unheard of levels. Jim Rome offered an open invitation to CM Punk to appear on his radio show. Bill Simmons wrote a column on wrestling theme songs and has talked about wrestling on his ultra-popular sports podcast. Also, Grantland,  Simmons's new independent (but owned by ESPN) website is covering wrestling like it's on par with soccer, hockey, boxing, MMA, or any other fringe/niche sport you can think of. The Masked Man writes a column on Deadspin eulogizing fallen heroes of wrestling's past, and writes on Grantland under the byline David Shoemaker. 

Anyway, we aren't here to talk about any of that. We are here to talk about the greatest night in WWF history. Do you recall August 29, 1988 like it was yesterday? I hope not or this blog is going to bomb. Here is what I remember about that date. It was three days before my  birthday, and since my best-friend Don had an illegal cable box, I would be able to watch SummerSlam live. It was going to kick ass. Today, I have the DVD of the event in my PS3 and it's time to start live blogging about an wrestling event almost twenty-four years ago. 


12:40 PM EST: We are live from Madison Square Garden and Gorilla Monsoon and the ultra boring Superstar Billy Graham will be calling the action. This is the first pay-per-view after Wrestlemania IV where Randy Savage became the undisputed champion of the world by defeating Butch Reed, Greg Valentine, One Man Gang, and Ted DiBiase in the same night. Hogan had helped Randy win the match creating the greatest tag team in WWF history called, The Mega-Powers. Tonight, the Mega Powers will try to settle a score with a team called The Mega-Bucks. The Mega-Bucks are the team of Andre the Giant and Ted DiBiase. To complicate matters, Jesse "The Body" Ventura is the special guest referee. More on all of that later. 

12:47: The first match of the night is a solid tag match as The Brittish Bulldogs will battle The Fabulous Rougeaus. 


12:49: This match is best remembered for the prank gone wrong that occurred in the dressing room before the match and the fall out afterwords. The following commentary is summarized and paraphrased from the Dynamite Kid's book:

 According to Dynamite, he never liked the Rougeau brothers. He felt they were arrogant and ignorant. Before Summerslam 1988, it was decided that the Rougeaus would face the Bulldogs. The Bulldogs did not want to lose to this particular team, so it was decided that they would give the crowd a 20 minute match which would end when the time expired. Some time after this a rib was played on the Rougeaus by Curt Hennig that backfired on the Bulldogs since they were notorious for backstage pranks. Apparently it is an unwritten rule backstage that you should always have someone watch your clothes when you are not around. The Rougeaus had asked Hennig to watch their stuff while they wrestled and he decided to cut their clothes to ribbons. When the Rougeaus returned, he quick ran in the bathroom and came out looking at their stuff pretending to be just as surprised. The Rougeaus instantly blamed the Bulldogs and yelled at them and even threatened them and left their dressing room. Dynamite waited a few minutes (and he remarks he does not know why he did it, even today) and went over to the dressing room the Rougeaus were in. Jacques had his back to him and Dynamite gave him a "flat hander, straight across to the ear". Jacque was both yelling "what's going on", but trying to fight back, but Dynamite laid him out. Raymond tried to get in the middle saying, "Jacques, he's had enough of you", but Dynamite warned him to back off and said "this has nothing to do with you", but Raymond would not back down, so Dynamite knocked Raymond out too. He left the dressing room leaving both Rougeaus on the floor. Days went by and the Rougeaus had done nothing to make Dynamite think that they were out for revenge. He would see them and they would not say a word and just go about their business or bury themselves in a book; at least until a TV taping at Ft. Wayne. 

Dynamite was just returning from lunch when he saw the Rougeaus talking with Pat Patterson and suddenly the thought came to him "they could not be planning something now, not in front of Pat". But Dynamite was wrong as when he passed them (as Pat started walking away) and Jacques hit him square in the mouth, knocking four teeth out. Patterson turned around and started yelling "stop, stop" as Jacques continued to hit him. Dynamite would not go down though. He then saw Raymond getting ready to blindside him as he thought to himself "it's over, I cannot handle two people", since he was not aware of how far they were going to take this. Luckily Bad News Brown showed up to break up the fight, and from Dynamite's stand-point, saved his life. The Rougeaus sprinted out of the building after this. Pat, trying to calm things down, gave Dynamite some money and told him to go to the hospital and get stitched up. He went and returned to the arena upon which he was told that Vince wanted to see him. Vince first remarked to Dynamite that he was in disbelief on how he did not go down. Dynamite came back saying how he would fix the Rougeaus, but Vince warned him against it because they "knew certain people" in Montreal that could make the situation a whole lot uglier. Dynamite left for a tour of Europe after the incident and discovered that when he arrived that Davey Boy had been in contact with their families already telling a different version of the story on how he "saved" Dynamite's life by fighting off the Rougeaus.  

The story came to a close with Vince arranging a meeting between the two teams. Dynamite said he would leave the situation be, if Jacques paid for his teeth (even though the WWF had already paid). Jacques adamantly refused cursing up a storm, but Raymond stepped in as peacemaker and settled his brother down and said to Dynamite to get the bill from the dentist and give it to them and they would pay. According to Dynamite the Rougeaus paid and he had 1,800 extra dollars since the bill was already settled by the company. Shortly after the Bulldogs gave their notice for many personal reasons and the last match they had (as a team) was in the tag-team elimination match at Survivor Series 1988. 

1:00 AM: Despite their differences outside of the ring, both teams are putting on a fantastic match inside of the ring. If you have never had the chance to see the Dynamite Kid wrestle in his prime, you have missed out. I would say that pound for pound he is the greatest wrestler of all time. Death Watch: Davey Boy Smith died in 2002 at age 39.  


1:03: The finish is executed well. All hell has broken loose in the ring and the referee is chasing the illegal men on both teams out of the ring. Dynamite looks to finish off one of the frenchman but before he can get the pin the bell rings to indicate a 20:00 time limit draw. That was an entertaining 3-star (out of 5) start to SummerSlam88. 

1:06: A video is shown of Brutus the Barber Beefcake getting "pearl harbored" (the words of Vince McMahon) by The Outlaw Ron Bass. Bass scrapes his spurs across the face of Beefcake and causes the screen to be censored to save us from the gore and blood that Bass drew on Beffcake's face. Anyway, Brutus will not be able to challenge The Honkey Tonk Man for the Intercontinental Championship at SummerSlam88. 


1:10: Bad News Brown is already in the ring waiting for his opponent Ken Patera. This is a match that would be better for Superstars than SummerSlam. I can't think of any build up or figure out why these two guys would be booked together. Bad News won the battle royal to start Wrestlemania IV after he double crossed his friend Bret Hart. Bret did end up smashing his trophy into a million pieces. Death Watch: Bad News Brown, whose real name is Allen Coage, died in 2007 at age 63.

1:16: There isn't much heat from the crowd for this match and that is mostly because Ken Patera is not over as a face. Not a single person in the arena cares if Patera wins or loses. Bad News catches Patera with his finisher, "The Ghettoblaster" and pins Patera at the 6:33 mark. It was a 1-star match. 


1:18: Mean Gene is in the back of the arena with The Mega-Powers standing in front of a back drop with graphics that remind me of the way promos were cut during Saturday Night's Main Event. Hulk Hogan is in incredible shape and you can almost see the blood dripping from his trunks after his last steroid shot. "What are you gonna do when the Mega Powers come running for you?"


1:19: Back to the ring, Ravishing Rick Rude makes his way down the isle with his manager, Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. He enters the ring and says, "I would like all you fat inner-city sweat hogs to keep the noise down while I take my robe off and show the ladies what a real man looks like." 


On Rick's tights, is a picture of his opponent, The Junk Yard Dog. JYD was always over with the fans and enters to a huge pop. As always, JYD has the word, "THUMP" written across the back of his pants. 


1:24: One thing missing from this event so far is a heel color commentator. Jesse Ventura is preparing for his job reefing the main event and Heenan is managing his clients. Monsoon and Graham are both faces and it doesn't work as well as a face playing off of a heel. 


1:25: Death Watch: In 1999, Rude died at age forty. It was creepy because just days earlier I had seen him as part of an ECW show in Buffalo. Also, in 1998 the JYD died at age 45 when he fell asleep at the wheel of his car while returning from his daughter's graduation. 


1:28: Rude pulls his pants down on the top rope to expose a second pair of tights with the image of Jake Roberts wife, Cheryl Roberts, on them. Within a second, Jake Roberts is in the ring attacking Rude. As a result, at 6:18 the JYD is disqualified for outside interference. It was no better than a 1.5 star match. 


1:30: Mean Gene is in the locker room area with the Intercontinental Champion, The Honky Tonk Man and his manager Jimmy Hart. Honky is downplaying the absence of Beefcake for their match later on the card and says he will face anyone that the company puts in front of him. Honky won't even let Mean Gene tell him who the opponent is. Honky says that it doesn't matter because he is a cocky and worthless jerk off. 


I have a personal reason to hate Honky. Rickey Steamboat is my favorite wrestler. When he pinned Randy Savage and won the WWF Intercontinental Championship at Wresltemania III, it was the greatest moment in the first six years of my life. A few months later my step dad took me to the Memorial Auditorium to see Steamboat defend his title at a TV taping. Wrestling legend has it that Steamboat was there to drop the belt to Butch Reed so he could spend more time with his family. Instead, Butch Reed no-showed an event and was bumped off the card and replaced with the Honky Tonk Man. At age 6, I was not privy to any of that information and fully expected Steamboat to win without a problem. Of course, he didn't. Instead, I witnessed the start of Honky Tonk's run that wouldn't end until he was the self-proclaimed greatest Intercontinental champion of all time. I didn't take the result of the match well and cried and cried and cried in the arms of my loving step-father. To this day, I still hate you Honky Tonk Man. 

1:37: Back in the ring, Slick is dressed to the nines with his team Nikolai Volkoff and Boris Zhukov. Slick reminds us to stand and pay respect as Volkoff sings the Russian national anthem. Their opponents, The Powers of Pain (The Barbarian and The Warlord) rush to the ring and attack Volkoff and Zhukof before the anthem is finished. 


1:42: Incredibly, all four men in this tag-team match are still alive. The crowd is confused as to who they are supposed to be rooting for. Obviously, the Russian team are heals but Barbarian and Warlord look big and mean and scare the crowd. I just don't see the Powers of Pain as a face team. Everyone in the Garden is board and ready for whatever is next. 


1:45: I just realized that the Powers of Pain have a manager with them. He is a guy named the Baron and he is wearing a hooded outfit. Despite being inside, Baron decides to keep his hood up. Baron is an old-timer trained by Verne Gagne named, James Raschke.


1:47: At 5:27, The Barbarian pins Volcoff in the center of the ring. I wouldn't be able to go any higher that 1.5 stars for that lame, slow, and lifeless match. I guess this victory would position The Powers of Pain as the number one contender to face whoever wins the tag-teag title match later in the night. If Demolition keeps the belts, The Powers of Pain could be a face team that could take them on. If the Hart Foundation wins, you pair the Powers of Pain with Slick and they can be heel opponents for the Hart Foundation. That last run-on sentence was all a little too kayfabe for this column. 


1:50: Oh dear lord. Brother Love is in the ring and is going to interview Hacksaw Jim Duggan. Upon the announcement of Duggan, Gorilla gets real excited and says, "Wait till you hear this place explode!" Duggan gets a small pop from the crowd, but it was a bit short of an explosion. 


1:51: Hacksaw Jim Duggan is from Glens Falls, New York and he got himself into trouble with Vince McMahon about a year before this event. Duggan was driving in a car with the Iron Sheik from one event to the next. They got stopped by the police and were both arrested for possession of various drugs and Duggan was also booked for DUI. Vince was furious, not because of the drugs, but because a face and a heel were caught together in the same car. 


1:57: Mercifully, Duggan chases Brother Love out of the ring with his 2x4 and ends that dreadful interview. 


1:58: Honky Tonk Man enters the ring with his manager Jimmy Hart to defend the Intercontinental championship. After a few seconds of silence, Honky takes the mic and asks for anyone to come out from the back and wrestle him. Finally, The Ultimate Warrior's music starts pumping out of the Madison Square Garden speakers. Warrior makes it to the ring in ten seconds and pins the Honky Tonk Man in :31 seconds to become the new Intercontinental champion. Honky never got the chance to take his Elvis costume off. I guess that was a 2-star match with a 1-star bonus for being kind of cool. The crowd loved it. 


Intermission: The PPV heads to an intermission. I am headed for an intermission as well. 


(I am back after a night's sleep, preparations for episode 32 of The Sports-Casters, and a stop at The Tea Party reunion concert.)


11:38PM EST: SummerSlam88 returns from a brief intermission and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan is in the booth with Gorilla Monsoon and Superstar Billy Graham.


11:40: The first match after intermission is garbage. Don "The Rock" Muraco is first to the ring and his opponent is Dino Bravo. This is another one of those matches that doesn't have any heat and has the crowd confused as to who they should cheer for. 


11:41: Heenan is a welcomed addition to the booth and he wastes no time in insulting the Superstar. Death Watch: Dino Bravo has the most bizarre wrestling death I have heard of. He passed away on March 11, 1993 after being shot 17 times in the head. It was rumored that Bravo was involved with organized crime and his death was somehow related to a cigarette smuggling scheme. He was 44-years old. 


11:45: Muraco and Bravo are both juiced up to the max. Neither of them can move around much in the ring and the pace is very slow. In only a few short minutes both men seem gassed. 


11:46: Out of nowhere, Bravo catches Muraco in a side suplex and pins him in the center of the ring at 5:28. I would call that match a .5-star snooze fest. 


11:47: In the back, Sean Mooney is joined by Jesse "The Body" Ventura. Ventura admits that he accepted money from Ted DiBiase, but he promises to be fair when the time comes to step in the ring as the guest referee of the main event. 


11:50: The next match should be a good one. The Hart Foundation will challenge Demolition for the WWF Tag Team Championship. The Hart Foundation lost the tag team titles before WrestleMania IV to Strike Force. At WrestleMania IV, Demolition crushed Strike Force to become the tag champs.

11:57: I just noticed that it seems like Bobby Heenan has left the broadcast booth. Shortly before this matchup, The Hart Foundation parted ways with manager Jimmy Hart and are the faces in this match. Hart has joined Demolition manager Mr. Fuji at ringside. The Hart Foundation will have to wrestle Demolition while keeping one eye on Jimmy Hart and Mr. Fuji at all times. The Hitman is just a few years away from being one of the biggest stars in all of wrestling.


12:00: Demolition spends about four minutes working on demolishing the shoulder of The Hitman. Ironically, The Hitman avoids sure death by clotheslining Smash with the arm and shoulder that Demolition had almost severed. 


12:03: All hell breaks loose as all four men are in the ring and Mr. Fuji is on the apron. From behind, Ax emerges with Jimmy Hart's megaphone and crushes the Hitman in the back of the head. Smash gets the pin in the center of the ring at 9:49 to retain the WWF tag titles. That was fun, 3-stars. 


12:05: In the back, Mean Gene is with a furious Honky Tonk Man. Honky lets this quote fly, "I said I would wrestle anybody, but I didn't say I would wrestle the Warrior." Somehow, Jimmy Hart got from ringside where he interfered with the tag match to the locker room to pout with Honky in a split second. Snotty must have beamed him up. 

12:07: The next match is The Big Boss Man against Koko B. Ware. Boss Man is joined by Slick and Koko is joined by a bird. Death Watch: Big Boss Man also known as Ray Traylor died in 2004 at age 41.


12:10: I am sure this was a great time for the fans in attendance to purchase a t-shirt or use the restroom. 


12:11: Gorilla calls Slick a piece of garbage. I think Slick is hilarious. You be the judge. 

12:12: After Koko gets in about ten-seconds of offense, Boss Man slams him like a sack of potatoes and pins him at the 5:57 mark. After pinning Koko, the Big Boss Man hammers him with his billy club. Superstar is furious and wants Boss Man suspended. 1-star. 


12:14: Sean Mooney is in the back with the Ultimate Warrior and a group of faces who are celebrating his victory. Warrior cuts a promo that makes sense to no one but him. 


12:15: It wouldn't be a pay-per-view in the late 1980's without a Hercules match. He will face everyone's favorite crack head, Jake "The Snake" Roberts. Gorilla is all fired up that Hercules isn't joined at ringside by his usual manager, Bobby Heenan. Death Watch: Somehow, Jake Roberts is still alive. Unfortunately, Hercules passed away in 2004 at age 47. 


12:19: This match is slower than Sid Bream trying to leg out a triple. I can't stress enough how much this pay-per-view suffers by not having a heel in the booth with Gorilla Monsoon. There is little chemistry between Monsoon and the raspy Billy Graham. 

12:21: Jake Roberts unleashes his powerful finisher, "The DDT" and pins Hercules at 10:06. Why the hell did they give this match 10-minutes? I will never know. I give it 1-star.


12:23: A video package is played to get viewers up to speed on the feud between the Mega-Powers and the Mega-Bucks. Basically, Savage is cutting a promo when DiBiase sneaks up from behind with Andre the Giant and beats Savage within an inch of his life. Savage later challenges DiBiase and the Giant to a tag match at SummerSlam. To build suspense, Savage doesn't announce a partner but instead promises to pick one in the future. It is announced that Jesse Ventura will be the guest referee for this epic match. Finally, Savage announces that Hulk Hogan will be his partner. I thought he might choose the Brooklyn Brawler. 


12:27: Jesse Ventura is first to the ring and is dressed in ridiculous attire. The Mega-Bucks are next to the ring. Ted DiBiase and Andre the Giant will wrestle in the match, but to do so they need to be joined at ringside by Bobby Heenan and Virgil. The Mega-Bucks don't use any entrance music. 


12:30: The Mega-Powers are next and Hogan and Savage come to the ring together with the lovely Miss Elizabeth at their side. Surprisingly, Hogan and Savage come to the ring with Savage's music playing and not the Hulkster's. Elizabeth is dressed in yellow and red and she looks incredible. 


12:33: Death Watch: This is sad. Andre the Giant died in 1993 at age 46. That makes him 41 on this night, and he looks like he can barely move. Unfortunately, Randy "Macho Man" Savage passed away just last month at age 58. Last, the Lovely Miss Elizabeth passed away in 2003 at age 43. In the previous wrestling blog that I wrote last week, I detailed Liz's terribly destructive relationship with Lex Luger. If you need evidence that Luger was a drug user, I beg you to watch this video. 

12:38: It took me almost 5-minutes to write about all of the dead people in the SummerSlam88 main event. In the meantime, the action is underway and Ventura is having trouble keeping Virgil, Heenan, and Liz off the apron and out of the ring. Andre looks so big and each of his chokes, slaps, and chops appear to sting Savage and Hogan. Legend has it that Andre was in extreme pain at this stage of his career, but he gave everything he had for the fans. Here is a video of Andre when he was at his best. 

12:41: The crowd breaks out in a "Weasel" chant meant to rattle Bobby Heenan. The fans seem very into the match. Savage is an expert at playing to the crowd even when he isn't the wrestler in the ring. I am watching for hints that might of foreshadowed the Mega-Power's exploding just seven months from now. I haven't noticed anything yet. 


12:44: Andre sits on Savage's head and leans all of his weight into the face of the champion. If there was ever a great opportunity for Andre to fart in the face of Savage, this would be it. 


12:46: Hogan drops Andre to his knees and then to the canvas and the crowd goes bananas. It is easy to forget just how over Hogan was in 1988. 


12:47: With Hogan knocked out and laying on the arena floor, Miss Elizabeth jumps to the apron to disrupt the count of referee Jesse Ventura. Next thing you know, Liz rips off the bottom of her dress and the entire crowd and everyone in and around the ring stops to view the glory that is the lovely Miss Elizabeth. In the meantime, Hogan and Savage regain themselves and sneak into the ring and knock Andre to the area floor. Savage drops his big elbow on DiBiase and then Hogan drops the big boot. Jesse doesn't appear to want to count, but he begrudgingly drops to his knees and counts 1-2-....3 (with a little help from Savage). At 13:57, an exciting main event ends with The Mega-Powers defeating the Mega-Bucks.  3.5-stars.


12:51: Long after Jesse and the Mega-Bucks make their way back to the dressing room, Hogan, Savage, and Liz pose and celebrate as "Real American" blares from the Garden speakers. Overall, SummerSlam88 was a snore fest. The IC title match lasted only thirty seconds, and most of the matches lacked the build up that was common at this time for pay-per-view matches. If you haven't seen this event since 1988, there isn't any reason to rush out and purchase the DVD. In the end, it was yet another greatest night in the history of the WWF.


Here is a you tube video that contains most of the main event. 

3 More Things: Episode 31

More Information on Sports-Casters Episode 31

1. We are entering very exciting times for The Sports-Casters. We seem to be getting through the dog days of summer with some fantastic shows. In the last month, we have been lucky enough to talk to A.J. Daulerio, Damon Hack, Jane Leavy, Mike Harrington, Greg Wyshynski, and Jonah Keri. Yesterday, we we spent some time talking to Jon Wertheim for the third time and Stewart Mandel for the first time.

Mandel was an awesome guest with a ton of information. It was one of those interviews that moved back and forth quick with a smooth question and answer. The only downside was that he was kind of quiet. We upped his level in the beginning of the interview and sometimes he was loud. Overall, the sound quality of this interview could have been better. I was interested to hear Stewart's thought's on Nebraska moving to the Big-10 and he made a great point. He said that teams in the Big 12 like to play the spread and pass the ball all over the field. In the Big-10, the game is more about running the ball and playing defense. That style is more in line with what Nebraska has been doing for the last 100-years. With Ohio State in trouble and headed down, Nebraska has an opportunity to take over the Big-10.

Jon Wertheim is one of the nicest guys in the business. He is easy to book and the conversation on the podcast is always interesting. The reason I have booked Wertheim three times in 31 episodes is because he writes about topics that make me think, and I want to talk about the work with him. The first time Jon was on we focused on his book, "Socrecasting: The Hidden Influences to how Sports are Played and Games are Won." The last time Jon was on we talked about the article he wrote for Sports Illustrated about the fall of Tiki Barber. Yesterday, we talked to Jon about his time at Wimbledon and an piece he wrote for the Scorecard section of Sports Illustrated about twitter. Every time Jon Wertheim writes, I think. Can you ask for anything more than that from writer?

One last note on Wertheim, Jon loves to come on The Sports-Casters. I take pride in the fact that Jon is a friend in the business and a guy that would help me out anytime I asked. I can't wait for the second edition of Scorecasting to be released.

Our third guest last night was a bit of a wild card. My initial thought was to recruit someone who writes about Apple on the internet and spend fifteen minutes of a show during the summer talking about some nerdy stuff. I got on the phone with Kirk McElhearn (a senior writer for Macworld) and instead of talking about Apple he wanted to to talk about the Tour de France. It ended up being some interesting content about something that we would have never talked about otherwise. Kirk had some first hand experiences such as watching Lance Armstrong cycle past his house on the way to winning his fifth Tour. Towards the end we talked for a few minutes about Apple, but it wasn't as much as I would have liked.

The quality of the McElhearn interview was a bit disappointing. We spoke skype-to-skype and maybe the distance between us (3,739 miles) might have caused the quality of the connection to be less than stellar. Kirk was a great sport and he even linked to our site from his blog, Kirkville.

2. I got an email today from a good friend who was concerned that we missed an edit when we put together the show yesterday. Occasionally, Don or myself will screw up a name or an intro and we scrap it and start over. Sometimes its really funny and ends up disappearing on the cutting room floor. Yesterday, Don and I decided it would be funny to leave me botching Kirk's last name in the show as a small way to pull back the curtain a little bit. We have done this a few times in the past. The good news is that we get to hear, "Remix to a Remix" two times. If you haven't, check out Episode 31 of the show and shoot us an email to tell us how much you loved it.

3. Three takes on three things that will dominate my time between now and the start of Episode 32.

1. The main topic of Episode 32 will be the upcoming MLB trade deadline. I looked ahead and locked down Ben Nicholson-Smith from MLBRumors.Com. I am going to have to research what teams should be buyers and what teams should be sellers. The Dodgers and Mets are really interesting teams to me. Neither squad wants empty seats in September, but both teams might need to shred some salary to deal with legal issues. The Dodgers are 13.5 games behind the Giants for first place in the N.L. West and 14.0 behind the Braves for the N.L. Wild Card. The Dodgers have had trouble making payroll all season and the McCourt family divorce has kept plenty of fans away from the stadium anyway. Other than Clayton Kershaw and Matt Kemp, I would think you could take on any of the Dodgers players (and their salary) if you think they can help you go deep into the playoffs. The Dodgers payroll is still north of 100-million dollars and I would think they might want to lower it at the deadline. The Mets are 12 games behind the Phillies in the NL East and 7.5 behind the Braves for the Wild Card. The Mets payroll is almost 120-million dollars this season, and that is a lot for a team with a potential cash flow problem. Last week, the Mets traded closer Francisco Rodriguez to the Brewers. I am sure they are looking to shed some more of that fat. Carlos Beltran is earning over 19-million dollars and could be an attractive player to a contender. Remember how awesome Beltran was for the Astros as they made their march to the World Series? The Mets sure do. 
2. Is this lockout going to end? Is it okay for me to be completely frustrated with it? I want to book a big football guest for next week's show, but I don't want to do it if we are only going to be talking about a never ending lockout and a bunch of if's and guesses clouded by the uncertainty of what will be collectively bargained. It seems that a deal is on the table and the owners and players need to vote on it. I am so sick and tired of headlines that say that the lockout should be ending soon. What the hell is soon? I don't want to hear about lights at the end of the tunnels. I don't want to hear anything other than, "This hideous lockout is over and it's time to start free agency and get the players into camp." 
3. The player that I am most interested in following when free agency begins is DeAngelo Williams. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are 60-million dollars under the rumored salary cap and wouldn't it make a lot of sense for them to take a run at Williams? I think so. I also wouldn't be surprised if the Buccaneers are players for Reggie Bush if the Saints decide to cut him loose. Josh Freeman emerged as a quality NFL QB and Mike Williams played outstanding as a rookie WR. Offenses usually try to build around a set of triplets and the Buccaneers need a running back to complete that trifecta. A few other places for DeAngelo Williams? I think the Dolphins, Cowboys, or Patriots could make sense. One last option, Carolina might just step up and lock Williams up. They drafted Cam Newton first overall in the draft and the last thing you want to do is start removing weapons from an already punchless offense. 

That is it for tonight...Please say goodnight, Miss. Bella.

The Greatest Night in the History of the WWF: Episode 1

Made in Heaven or Made in Hell?

I was trolling around the internet tonight and got sucked into an article written by David Shoemaker (or The Masked Man on Deadspin) posted on Bill Simmons's Grantland. In the article, David writes about the upcoming WWE pay-per-view featuring a match between CM Punk and John Cena. The build up for the match has apparently been fantastic and the internet is split on how the match will end. I lost interest in wrestling sometime after Vince McMahon destroyed the WCW and lost the competitive edge that resulted in wrestling's re-birth in the late 1990's thru the turn of the century.

Anyway, Shoemaker had my mouth watering for wrestling. Like a heroin addict, wrestling is a part of me that will never go away. I don't keep up with the current programing, but I have a nice collection of DVDs that focus on my golden era of wrestling. I watched the WWF exclusively from about 1985-1997. The company has done a great job of documenting this era with PPV box-sets, wrestler anthologies, and plenty of other creatively packaged sets.

Instead of just watching wrestling tonight, I decided to start a new series of blogs. The series will be called,  The Greatest Night in the History of the WWF. I will occasionally, when I get the itch, break out a DVD of a PPV from the WWF's past and  blog as if the action is playing out before me for the first time. I'm not breaking any new ground here. Scott Keith is a blogger that has similarly had great success with this agenda, and the guys at Pro Wrestling Insider have done a podcast for each of the Wrestlemania, Summer Slam, Royal Rumble, and Survivor Series pay-per-views. Despite all of the competition I will give it a shot anyway. Who the hell is Scott Keith anyhow?

The weather has been hot in Buffalo and one of the things that got me through the hot weather as a kid was looking forward to Summer Slam. Summer Slam was always my favorite pay-per-view of the year because it was usually a few days before my birthday. For those reasons,  It seems appropriate to start out with a Summer Slam. I decided to watch Summer Slam 91 which first aired on August 26, 1991 in front of a sold out crowd at Madison Square Garden. This live blog is going to start at 1:00 AM Eastern time so that I can use the clock to jump from post to post. Here we go.

1:00 AM EST: The card is billed as the Match Made in Heaven and the Match Made in Hell. The heaven part is the marriage of Miss Elizabeth to the Macho Man Randy Savage. Amazingly, only a decade later and they are both no longer with us. The match made in hell is a tag match main event between Hulk Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior against Sgt. Slaughter, Colonel Mustafa (or The Iron Sheik), and General Adnan. More on how ridiculous that is later. 

The PPV starts with a slickly packaged open voiced by Vince McMahon. We then head live to the arena floor where Gorilla Monsoon, Bobby Heenan, and Rowdy Roddy Piper welcome us to this fabulous event. Heenen cracks the first joke of the night referencing a noose in the context of Savage and Liz's wedding.

1:02: The opening match is a pretty impressive 6-man tag. The heels are The Warlord and The Power and Glory (Paul Roma and Hercules) against the face team of Rickey "The Dragon" Steamboat, Davey Boy Smith, and the Texas Tornado. Death Watch: In this match the Texas Tornado, Davey Boy Smith, and Hercules have all passed away.


1:05: Piper is getting under Heenan's skin by calling him Boobs. Gorilla is forced to try and keep his color men focused. That could be the hardest assignment of the night.


1:06: I forgot to mention that Slick is on the outside "managing" the heel team. Slick had a glorious debut.

1:12: The opening match comes to a conclusion as Steamboat lands a high cross body of the top rope and pins Roma in the center of the ring at the 10:43 mark. That was a decent opener and I would call it a solid 3-star match (out of five).

1:14: Sean Mooney is in a dressing room that is cleary fake. Sean is interviewing the Intercontinental Champion of the World, Mr. Perfect and his manager Coach. Perfect gives a great promo explaining he is ready for the battle of  between the excellence of execution and perfection.

1:15: Bret Hart as the challenger makes his way to the ring first. His parents, Stu and Helen Hart are shown in the stands of the Garden. Mr. Perfect Curt Hennig makes his way to the ring with the glorious Intercontinental Championship belt around his waist. Death Watch: Mr. Perfect passed away in 2003. Also, Coach died in 2009 at age 69.

1:18: Heenan says, "Piper used to come home from school to find out his parents had moved."

1:21: Who is Coach? Well, according to Wikipedia, he is John Tolos. John was born in Hamilton, Ontario and often wrestled under the name the Golden Greek.

1:29: This match is awesome. I forgot I was writing. Perfect and Hart are painting a picture worthy of Picasso with speed, near falls, back and forth action, and seemingly brutal violence. Hart kicks out of Mr. Perfect's finisher the "perfect-plex".


1:34: The last five-minutes have been very fast with more near falls. The crowd is very into it and Hart and Perfect are both over. Hitman blocks a kick to the balls and turns it into his famed sharp-shooter. At 18:04, Bret Hart becomes the new IC champion. That match was awesome and should easily be the match of the night. I would call it a 4.5-star match. 

1:36: The great Lord Alfred Hayes is with Mr. and Mrs. Hart who are both celebrating as their son's music blares in the arena. Bret makes his way up the isle and has a nice moment with his parents. Have you read Bret Hart's book? I would easily call it the best book ever written by a wrestler.

1:39: Mean Gene is in the back with The Bushwhackers and a crippled looking Andre the Giant. Andre is on crutches because the Mouth of the South Jimmy Hart had him attacked by the Earthquake.  Luke and Butch will try to defend Andre's honor by taking on the Earthquake his partner Typhoon also known as, The Natural Disasters.

1:42: I have no recollection of who won this match, but I could almost guarantee that The Bushwhackers will not be the winners. Did they ever win a match? Death Watch: Andre the Giant passed away in 1993 at age 46 and Earthquake passed away in 2006 at age 42.

1:45: The quality of the wrestling has went from Major League Baseball to North Tonawanda Little League in just one match. Bobby Heenan announces that Hulk Hogan is in the building and then leaves his spot at the broadcast booth to go embarrass him.


1:49: Mercifully, at 6:27 Earthquake drops his fat ass on Butch and pins him in the center of the ring. Piper says, "baby that was a ten on the Richter scale." It appears that the Natural Disasters are going to punish a helpless Andre the Giant but the Legion of Doom come from the back to save the legend. That was  a poor showing worth no more than the rating of a 2-star match.

1:50: Heenan is at the door of Hulk Hogan's dressing room with Ric Flair's championship belt. He tries to challenge Hogan to a match but Hogan slams the door in his face. Heenan leaves flustered.

1:51: Sean Mooney is in the fake dressing room with the Million Dollar Man and Scary Sherri. DiBiase is preparing to defend the Million Dollar Belt against his former bodyguard Virgil. Rowdy Roddy Piper is very enthusiastic towards Virgil, and he lets us know early and often that he is rooting for the former body guard. Death Watch: Sherri Martel passed away in 2007 at age 49.

1:56: Bobby Heenan returns to ringside very angry that the Hulkster slammed a door in his face. Piper to Heenan: "Hey Boobs, did that kind of remind you of when you were a kid at Halloween?"

1:59: This match is torture. Sheri seems to grant mercy to all of us when she jumps into the ring and knocks Virgil out with her purse. Instead of the disqualification, Sheri is sent to the dressing room for interfering in the match. Virgil and Ted are laying face down on the canvas as the match is ordered to continue.

2:03: I mentioned that Bret Hart's  book is one that I highly recommend. Ted DiBiase's book on the other hand is a pile of shit. I thumbed through it at Borders and it clearly was not written by DiBiase. It's a generic WWF production that doesn't offer much inside information. It does have a cool cover.

2:06: Piper screaming at the top of his lungs in support for Virgil is incredibly annoying. For some reason, DiBiase uncovers one of the turnbuckles only to inevitably have it back fire when Virgil musters enough energy to slam Dibiase's face into it. Virgil pins Ted at the 13:11 mark. Heenan says, "The next time you see that belt it will be hanging from the mirror of a 1979 Caddy driven by Virgil." That was a 2-star match.


(Alright, time for some gold old fashioned honesty. Shortly after finishing that post, I passed out. I was on the couch drooling on my MacBook Pro and snoring The A-Team theme. Anyway, its 1:13AM EST the next day. Let's get back at it.)


1:13 AM: Mean Gene is in the garage at Madison Square Garden interviewing The Mountie. It's time for the first and probably last jailhouse match in WWF history. The Mountie is going represent Canadian law enforcement and wrestle the Big Boss Man. The winner will receive glory and the loser is going directly to jail.

1:15: Sean Mooney drew the Big Boss Man who gives a crazy promo threatening to send our buddy the Mountie to prison. Death Watch: The Boss Man, AKA Ray Traylor died in 2004 at age 41.

1:19: Gorilla Monsoon is very concerned for the loser because he is going to have a criminal record. They are really pushing the whole, "suspend disbelief" angle with the ridiculous terms of this match.

1:24: Monsoon just called The Mouth of the South Jimmy Hart the biggest walking add for birth control he has ever seen. That is very harsh, Gorilla.

1:26: The Big Boss Man was an incredible athlete. For  as large as he was, poorly dressed, and not exactly in the best shape of his life, The Big Boss Man did move well in the ring. Anyway, Boss Man pins Mountie in the center of the ring at 9:38 to win the jailhouse match. The police rush to ring side and drag The Mountie to jail. I am waiting for a Monopoly joke.

1:30: Mean Gene is in the fake locker room with an angry Ted Dibiase and Scarey Sherri. Ted has a number of complaints with the officiating. Then, Sean Mooney interviews Bret Hart who is in a much better mood. Now, we are back in the fake locker room with Mean Gene interviewing an irate Jimmy Hart and two fat slobs (The Natural Disasters). Jimmy wants to talk to his lawyer. Quickly, we are back to Sean Mooney who has a pleased Big Bossman. Next, Mean Gene is in the locker room with the Macho Man who is on the phone talking to fans (allegedly) of the WWF who got suckered into calling a 900-number. This dreadful segment of interviews mercifully ends with Mean Gene announcing the pay-per-view will take a five minute break.


1:35: We are back from the break with Gorilla, Piper, and Heenan. The guys go over some of the action from the first half of the show and Heenan predicts Sid Justice will pull some funny stuff during the Match Made in Hell.

1:36: Oh good, the paddy wagon has made it to jail and we get to see the police drag a screaming Mountie into the jail.

1:36: We are in the fake locker room again with an angry Jimmy Hart, The Nasty Boys, and an intimidated Sean Mooney. The Nasty Boys are ready to defend their tag team titles against The Legion of Doom.

1:38: More jail foolishness.

1:38: Mean Gene has the Legion of Doom in front of a Summer Slam back drop and Animal is all fired up for the chance to be the first team to win the AWA, NWA, and WWF tag team titles. Hawk gives his classic, "OHHHHHHHHHHHH what a RUSSSSSSSSSSSSSSH."

1:40: More jail foolishness.

1:41: The promos just keep coming. Sean Mooney is now in the fake dressing room with Sargent Slaughter, The Iron Sheik, and Adnan to discuss the match made in hell. It's so sad that Slaughter has chosen to back Iraq in this international conflict. Hogan is going to have to teach him the meaning of patriotism.

1:42: Mean Gene is with Sid Justice who will be the guest referee in the match made in hell. Gene has some incriminating video to play that clearly shows Justice fraternizing with Slaughter, Sheik, and Adnan. He promises to be an honest, fair, and even official.

1:44: We are finally back to ringside for the WWF tag team title match between The Nasty Boys and The Legion of Doom. Death Watch: Hawk, also known as Michael Hengstrand died in 2003 at age 46. Somehow, both of the Nasty Boys are still alive.

1:47: This match is called a street fight brawl and there are no disqualifications. The match is relatively tame compared to some of the extreme matches that would define the attitude era of the WWF in just a few short years. These teams are basically just brawlers so the format fits them. I always enjoyed the Legion of Doom and their DVD was one of the first I purchased.

1:51: The LOD trap Knobs in the doomsday device and at 7:45 the LOD are the new tag team champions. I am a little disappointed because they didn't take advantage of the no DQ to tell the story. It was basically a regular tag match.  Overall it was a 2.5-star match that could have been much better had they had a little more time.

1:53: More jail foolishness. Really? They are dragging this nonsense out. How many segments do we need for them to dump the poor Mountie into his  jail cell? If they didn't waste so much time on this they could have given the tag title match a bit longer.

1:55: For some reason, Irwin R. Schyster is in the ring for a match against former Intercontinental Champion, Greg the Hammer Valentine. This match seems way out of place on the card and the crowd that was all pumped up after the LOD win is now dead. Who is the heel? Who is the babyface? This match is confusing. The good news is that Greg Valentine and Irwin R. Schyster are both still alive.

1:57: Gorilla foreshadows some trouble for later by stating that his source in the back has spotted Jake the Snake Robers and the Undertaker roaming around the locker room area.

1:59: This match blows. The Hammer is from Seattle, for that reason, lets check out some good Seattle rock and roll.

2:01: Here is an interesting piece of WWF irony... IRS is actually Mike Rotunda who was a very popular tag team wrestler in the early 80's. He used to team with Barry Windham as the US Express. At Wreslemania I (at Madison Square Garden), they won their second WWF tag team championship by defeating The Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff. Two months later they dropped the belts to Brutus Beefcake (not yet the barber) and Greg Valentine.

2:06: Anyway, Shyster rolls the Hammer into a nifty small package and pins him at the 7:07 mark. I can't say that was any better than a 1-star match.

2:09: Mean Gene is in the back with Hulk Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior. Hogan mentions winning the WWF title in 1984. He doesn't mention that he defeated The Iron Sheik and that tonight we are supposed to believe that The Iron Sheik is actually a different person named Colonel Mustafa. Warrior has words coming out of his mouth but they are mostly incoherent.


The Match Made in Hell

2:13: It's time for the main event of the evening. Sid Vicious comes to the ring first dressed in jeans and a muscle shirt with referee stripes.

Next to enter the ring is The Triangle of Terror. Sargent Slaughter is the leader and his partners are The Iron Sheik  Colonel Mustafa and General Adnan.

The Ultimate Warrior races to the ring to his own music without Hogan. These guys had absolute massive egos.

Hogan enters the ring with the WWF title around his waist and Real American blasting over the Garden speakers.

Piper is playing up the Hogan/Warrior rivalry as best as he can, and Heenan is very vocal about his concern that Justice will not be a fair official.

2:17: Most of the readers of this piece probably know about the massive piece of WWF history that occurred just before the start of this match, but some of the readers might not. With that in mind, I will briefly recap what happened.

Basically, Vince McMahon claims that Warrior threatened to no-show the event if he wasn't paid some undisclosed amount of money. When Hogan and Slaughter heard about the threat they told Vince that they wanted to handle it physically. Instead of a physical altercation, McMahon paid the Warrior his money and fired him immediately after the match was complete. The Ultimate Warrior claims that he was still owed a bonus from Vince for his work at Wrestlemania VII and he wasn't going to perform at Summer Slam without his bonus being paid out front. Either way, this was the end of the Warrior in the WWF until Wrestlemania VIII in March.

2:23: This match is dreadful. There is no buzz in the crowd and all of the wrestlers are stiff and uninteresting. This is the anti Perfect vs. Hart match. I think most of the crowd was offended by Vince capitalizing off a war being fought by some of the young men and women of the United States. It was one thing to play up the cold war during the early 1980's but this was a different kind of war. It was bad enough that they headlined Wrestlemania VII with this crap, but did we need a second PPV? Why not let Hogan defend the title against the top heel in the company. Why not Hogan vs. Warrior II? I can think of 10-20 different ideas that would have been better than this dreadful handicapped match.

2:28: Justice is losing control of the match. Warrior chases Mustafa and Adnan down the isle with a chair and Vicious is distracted by those antics. In the meantime, Hogan comes out of nowhere with what looks like an eight-ball of cocaine and throws it into the face of Sargent Slaughter. He then drops the deadly boot and pins Slaughter at 12:40. I will give the match made in hell a half of a star. It was a truly dreadful wrestling match.

2:31: After five minutes of posing and playing to the crowd as his familiar music blares on the loud speakers, Hogan motions to the locker room and calls Sid Justice into the ring to pose with him. The two leave the ring as best buddies. I am sure going into the night most expected that Justice would be against Hogan and possibly cost him and the Warrior the match. Thank goodness that didn't happen.

2:33: More dreadful prison footage.


The Match Made in Heaven


2:34: Hogan and Justice have finally cleared out of the ring and we are showed the video of Randy Savage proposing to the lovely Miss. Elizabeth. Death Watch: I just want to get this out of the way because it makes me very sad.  On May 1, 2003, Miss Elizabeth passed away at age 42. She was always such a beautiful, sparkling, and charming woman that I am glad I never had the misfortune to see her at her worst. Apparently, after divorcing Savage, and a second husband, Liz became romantically involved with Lex Luger. There relationship was very toxic and was destroyed by domestic violence, drug abuse, and the eventual death of Miss Elizabeth. It's ridiculous how many competitors in this event died in their forties. This one is the saddest. I will always remember the lovely Miss Elizabeth like this...

On May 20, 2011, Randy Savage was killed when he suffered a heart attack while driving with his wife in Seminole, Florida. He was 58-years old.

 2:41: Back to the PPV, we are treated to a nicely done video package that shows Elizabeth as I always remembered her. The strange thing about this wedding is that Liz and Randy were actually married in 1984 and ended up getting divorced in the Summer of 1992.

2:45: Savage is dressed like a clown, but Liz looks as beautiful as she ever did.

2:46: Instead of saying "I DO," Savage lets out a great loud OHHHH YEAAAAH.

2:48: Savage kisses the bride. Gorilla calls it, "the kiss heard around the world." Confetti and streamers are falling from the ceiling as pomp and circumstance blares on the Garden speakers.

2:51 The happy couple exits the ring and the pay-per-view is over.

And with that, the first edition of The Greatest Night in the History of the WWF is over. I hope you enjoyed the photos, videos, and pros that made this blog what it is.

Say goodnight, Bella.