Speaker 1: It's the Golden Age.
Speaker 2: Roger than the fantasy sat in the refil history the gold.
Speaker 3: Then tell me from co Captains to Happy Thanksgiving.
Speaker 2: Welcome to the Survivor Series nineteen eighty eight review right
Speaker 2: here on the Golden Era Podcast with Shawn Mooney.
Speaker 3: How you doing today?
Speaker 1: I'm doing great. Interesting though event we're going to be
Speaker 1: talking about. I really have kind of a love hate
Speaker 1: with this one because to me, it was it was
Speaker 1: it was a gigantic mash pit of an event, as
Speaker 1: I will explain as we get into this. But I
Speaker 1: was busy that day, that's for sure. So let's get
Speaker 1: into it now.
Speaker 3: This is your first Survivor series.
Speaker 2: You've been with the company since what May of nineteen
Speaker 2: eighty eight, so this is your first Survivor series. Did
Speaker 2: you know anything about it? How are you being prepped
Speaker 2: about what Survivors is?
Speaker 1: Well, I mean they had one previously, so we kind
Speaker 1: of knew what the whole concept was.
Speaker 4: I knew that I wasn't.
Speaker 1: Going to be sharing Thanksgiving with my family that day,
Speaker 1: but it was it was an interesting event to be
Speaker 1: a part of because it was just there was just
Speaker 1: so much.
Speaker 4: Going on all the time. You know, where I was
Speaker 4: used to doing tag team interviews and.
Speaker 1: Then also doing uh, you know, the single one on
Speaker 1: one kind of thing.
Speaker 4: Then suddenly you have.
Speaker 1: To do these massive interviews where you've got five different
Speaker 1: guys or more in some game managers, yeah, that are.
Speaker 4: Involved in it.
Speaker 1: And as I've said before, you're basically you're the mic
Speaker 1: stand You've got to make sure that that MC gets
Speaker 1: where it's supposed to be in the right order, and
Speaker 1: so that that's you know, your mission, and then be
Speaker 1: natural about it all and make sure everybody gets their
Speaker 1: lines in so well. From my perspective, that was my
Speaker 1: concern because you know, Vince was in on all of
Speaker 1: these as we've talked about. He just was every detail
Speaker 1: and it was a relatively new event in a sense,
Speaker 1: so there was more tension, I guess, you know event.
Speaker 1: So I said, nothing can go wrong, Well, yeah, a
Speaker 1: lot of things could go wrong, especially when you're this young,
Speaker 1: basically green announcer who's still trying to get his feet
Speaker 1: under him after all this. So it was uh yeah,
Speaker 1: I probably sweated through not just my shirt.
Speaker 2: But my jacket, the blazers. Well your nice nice suit
Speaker 2: that day.
Speaker 4: Nice, Yeah it tucks, Yes, you.
Speaker 2: Look great, not rocking up mullet real one hundred percent.
Speaker 2: Yet it's growing, getting there, it's getting there. You know
Speaker 2: you're trying, You're trying. But with interviewing five people with managers,
Speaker 2: is there prep work? Are you setting this up where
Speaker 2: we're all getting in a room going okay, well you
Speaker 2: say you're one that I pointed to you and you
Speaker 2: do your line or is it all just okay, let's
Speaker 2: go and each person jumps in when they find a moment.
Speaker 1: No, and it's in one of these And most of those,
Speaker 1: as I've said before, that they were loosely you know,
Speaker 1: planned out that because these guys kind of knew what
Speaker 1: they would say and you blocked it out in a sense.
Speaker 1: But these, yeah, these were a little more involved because
Speaker 1: you did have so many players in it. There were
Speaker 1: so many you know, chess pieces on the board, so
Speaker 1: they were a lot more meticulous about making sure that
Speaker 1: everybody had the lines. What you're gonna say, and you
Speaker 1: don't talk too long, and you get your point in
Speaker 1: and get out.
Speaker 4: And so I want to I don't want to say.
Speaker 1: I mean, we did a rehearsal kind of thing, but
Speaker 1: we did block it out and everybody had to know
Speaker 1: what they were going to do so, and I and
Speaker 1: I still remember that we didn't have many takes real
Speaker 1: We really didn't, which is a credit to all of
Speaker 1: those guys you know that were able to do that,
Speaker 1: and especially the number of interviews we did, and we
Speaker 1: had to get them done, uh and knock them out
Speaker 1: because you've got a lot of other things you've got
Speaker 1: to do. These guys got to, you know, get ready
Speaker 1: for their matches, and especially with the one that we'll
Speaker 1: get into when you've got ten on ten, which I
Speaker 1: watched it again. I'm still astounded by those matches when
Speaker 1: they do them, and to think that you know, they
Speaker 1: had this wasn't some new concept. They'd have these these
Speaker 1: rumbles before kind of thing. But uh yeah, just just
Speaker 1: just madness. And uh, I'm not I'm not a big fan,
Speaker 1: as we've we've we've.
Speaker 2: Discussed, Yes, you have said you're not a bank fan
Speaker 2: of Multiman matches and honestly, Surviarvar series has a special place.
Speaker 3: In my heart.
Speaker 2: But then when you start watching some of these events,
Speaker 2: you're wondering, why does my heart want me to love
Speaker 2: these things so much? My eyes say, I'm not really
Speaker 2: enjoying what I'm saying it's you're right. It's a lot
Speaker 2: of just clubbing, blows, tag somebody else in act. You
Speaker 2: come in, get your shit in, tag them out, like
Speaker 2: there is no planned feels like spots. It's a lot
Speaker 2: of just Okay, well we got a bunch of wrestlers,
Speaker 2: we got to get our shit in. You're eliminated, you're eliminated,
Speaker 2: you're eliminated, versus years later it's like, Okay, we're gonna
Speaker 2: set up this storyline in this match which gets us
Speaker 2: ready for WrestleMania or Royal Rumble. At this point, I
Speaker 2: feel like the only connection to that is the Mega Powers.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And you also have to keep in mind, you know,
Speaker 1: as you just talked about that, how do you plan
Speaker 1: these matches out?
Speaker 4: You really can't.
Speaker 1: And you know, professional wrestling, a lot of it is
Speaker 1: a dance in there, and these guys, once you've become
Speaker 1: a seasoned professional, once you really know what you're doing
Speaker 1: in there, you could do this all day. And it's
Speaker 1: everything from somebody where they grab you on the wrist
Speaker 1: and what or they you know, come up.
Speaker 4: Under your arm or whatever.
Speaker 1: You there's so many options to do, and these guys
Speaker 1: were really good at it. And really I liked watching
Speaker 1: that to see once again, just uh, you know what
Speaker 1: talented athletes these guys were. And I mean, when you
Speaker 1: think about it, they're there, all of them were. They
Speaker 1: were just blown up. I mean they were just huge,
Speaker 1: all of them. Even Jake looked great that day.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Uh and and.
Speaker 1: Uh, you know, and to see them be able to
Speaker 1: do and move the way they did in the ring,
Speaker 1: and uh, you know, there was some of course, some misspots,
Speaker 1: but overall, you know, these guys know exactly what they're doing.
Speaker 1: But you can't you can't you can't really plot these out.
Speaker 1: They know when they got to get out. They didn't
Speaker 1: have at the time where you know, like the referees
Speaker 1: have the earpieces, well back then they didn't have them,
Speaker 1: and so a lot of it was hand signals and
Speaker 1: they would have you know, a referee stationed outside of
Speaker 1: the ring who would keep talking to the timekeepers so
Speaker 1: they knew where they were because they did have to
Speaker 1: keep you know, some kind of a timeline on this,
Speaker 1: and these guys had an idea, Okay, you're going out
Speaker 1: at this point, and they get a you know, high
Speaker 1: sign to now it's time to go.
Speaker 4: But that was a long way to go to.
Speaker 1: Work that angle with the powers of pain and demolition.
Speaker 1: You know that that was just I mean and really
Speaker 1: think about it. That's what that that whole thing was about.
Speaker 1: And the other big point of this event to me,
Speaker 1: And as I mentioned at the top, that was kind
Speaker 1: of this mosh pit of an event, a mash well.
Speaker 4: I felt that way about the talent.
Speaker 1: And you know how much I love to see our
Speaker 1: superstars get their chance on the stage. And in this one,
Speaker 1: you know, Coco Beware was in the main event. Uh,
Speaker 1: so I love that. But at the same time, it
Speaker 1: was just such a collection of I don't want you know,
Speaker 1: I hate the term mid carters, but in a.
Speaker 4: Sense it wasn't.
Speaker 1: I was thinking where were all of our guys, the
Speaker 1: ones that really stood out to me, you know, and
Speaker 1: and a lot of them had departed. Uh you know,
Speaker 1: we could we could go down the list of how
Speaker 1: many guys weren't there through whatever reasons, uh, being injured
Speaker 1: or unhappy and moving on and and so you know,
Speaker 1: that's where you end up with these guys that are
Speaker 1: that they are are hooking up with these top card guys,
Speaker 1: and a lot of it just didn't make any sense.
Speaker 1: And then you got the Conquistadors, who almost outlast everybody.
Speaker 4: I was thinking of, like.
Speaker 1: You could let these guys win. I know we've got
Speaker 1: an angle here, but uh yeah, it was just a
Speaker 1: massive collection and it really felt like they, you know,
Speaker 1: took ping pong balls out of a basket. As far
Speaker 1: as how we're going to match people up here, it was,
Speaker 1: you know, it was all over the place.
Speaker 2: I'm glad you said that, because yes, when you look
Speaker 2: at the card, when you think of Golden Era wrestlers,
Speaker 2: there's a lot at the Survivors series when you're like,
Speaker 2: I don't consider you part of the Golden Era superstars.
Speaker 3: I consider you like I don't know where it is.
Speaker 2: Like the beginning of the Golden Era where it kind
Speaker 2: of gets forgotten about. So let's break down the first
Speaker 2: matchup though, because you have Ultimate Warrior Bruce Beefcake, two
Speaker 2: Golden Era wrestler.
Speaker 3: Then you have Sam Houston, who's.
Speaker 2: There for a cup of coffee, jumping, Jim Brunzell, one
Speaker 2: half of the Killer Bees, and Owen Hart, who is
Speaker 2: at the time.
Speaker 3: The Blue Blazer. Okay, they're taking on.
Speaker 2: The Well Hockey, the Honkey talk Man, Ron Bass, Dangerous
Speaker 2: Danny Davis who used to be a referee. Now who's
Speaker 2: a wrestler, Greg the Hammer, Valentine and Bad News Brown?
Speaker 1: Those are your why did the Brawler get screwed on this?
Speaker 3: I Brooklyn Brawler? You wanted him in here.
Speaker 1: Maybe it wasn't the Brawler yet you know it, But
Speaker 1: I get your point exactly, is like like.
Speaker 2: What Sam Houston, Jim Brunzell, Blue Blazer, Danny Davis, Ron
Speaker 2: Bass doing here like the rest of them. Again, nothing
Speaker 2: against any of those wrestlers, but in reality, when you're
Speaker 2: looking at say a year from now, these people aren't
Speaker 2: even hearing the company anymore.
Speaker 3: They're gone like that.
Speaker 2: It's just so weird that sometimes when you look at
Speaker 2: wrestles like a Kempeterra, you're like, wow, look at them.
Speaker 2: They're there and then you never see them ever again
Speaker 2: because just timing contracts, disputes over money, and in this
Speaker 2: match are disputes here. Because originally Don Morocco is on
Speaker 2: Ultimate Warriors team. Well apparently he quit the company. Now
Speaker 2: the reason behind this is he was fired, but he
Speaker 2: quit as well, and this was during a European tour.
Speaker 2: He was getting a drug test by at the time
Speaker 2: Nick Bockwinkle and Don Mornco lost his mind on Nick
Speaker 2: Bockwill streaming at him, even according to the Internet, calling
Speaker 2: him a pecker Checker, and it was really Don Morocco
Speaker 2: failed a drug test for steroids.
Speaker 3: He's out, so he quits instead of getting fired.
Speaker 2: So in reality, is this a common thing where wrestlers
Speaker 2: just getting caught in the acting and like, you know what,
Speaker 2: you can't fire me?
Speaker 4: I quit? Yeah.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, But at the same time too, there was things
Speaker 1: worked out where they weren't exactly getting over. I think
Speaker 1: Jyd was kind of the same situation that he just
Speaker 1: wasn't you know, he'd been a superstar down a Mid
Speaker 1: South and had just had never really happened with the
Speaker 1: ww F WWE, and so he departed. I think, I mean,
Speaker 1: you saw the shape he was, and so you know
Speaker 1: it wasn't a steroid issue. But I think that he
Speaker 1: thought that he'd go back and relive the glory because
Speaker 1: it just for whatever reason, because you look at and
Speaker 1: Jim doug And talks about this how massively over Junkyard
Speaker 1: Dog was at Mid South where he you know, he
Speaker 1: would say he blew, he would blow the roof off
Speaker 1: that arena, and uh, and sometimes the translation just didn't happen.
Speaker 1: These guys would go and you'd think, man, you know,
Speaker 1: look what they did there, so imagine what they're going
Speaker 1: to do on this stage. Well, maybe that stage was
Speaker 1: better suited for them. Uh, they read those crowds better.
Speaker 1: They weren't used to a lot of people that were
Speaker 1: in that crowd that weren't true you know, deep seated
Speaker 1: professional wrestling fans, right, which was pretty much what our
Speaker 1: audience was at that time. We've we've gotten a lot
Speaker 1: of people who'd just been attracted to the whole you know,
Speaker 1: superhero storybook type angles that we were working with this
Speaker 1: and the characters. So when you had guys you know
Speaker 1: down mid South that was that was you know, down
Speaker 1: dirty uh you know, profession well wrestling.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 1: And people used to using to see the use seeing
Speaker 1: the juice on the you know, on the canvas and.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah riots being stabbed.
Speaker 1: People go yeah, well and and yeah they using the
Speaker 1: swat team to get you out to the ring and
Speaker 1: back again. Literally they weren't just cops, you know, these
Speaker 1: guys would come, they'd have riot gear on that it
Speaker 1: was so rowdy. So uh, there were a lot of
Speaker 1: different reasons as you mentioned, some of them were substance related,
Speaker 1: but also there was just a way that, you know,
Speaker 1: it was kind of a mutual thing in a sense
Speaker 1: that hey, it's just not working out here, and you know,
Speaker 1: maybe if you go away and re establish or just
Speaker 1: get you know, and maybe get back at a different gimmick.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 1: It wasn't all nasty and like fu but it was
Speaker 1: kind of like, well, it ain't working here, and so
Speaker 1: I'm going to go away and we'll see what happens.
Speaker 4: People'll see you down the road.
Speaker 2: I like how done Morocco though, was like the Rock
Speaker 2: Morocco for a while, original and then like originally you know,
Speaker 2: as years ago on, people are like, don't you know,
Speaker 2: Ruki Mayvie isn't the first rock, like using their comic
Speaker 2: book guy from the Simpson's voice on you to correct you.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Morocco's out.
Speaker 2: He quits the company or fire, depending on what you
Speaker 2: look at that you mentioned Jyd he was originally on
Speaker 2: Drake to Snake Roberts's team, which we'll get to in
Speaker 2: a minute, but they both are out of the company,
Speaker 2: and I feel like there's a group of wrestlers Dahn
Speaker 2: Morocco Superstar Billy Graham, Bruno Sammartino.
Speaker 3: I feel like those three of the wrestlers who.
Speaker 2: Did so much for the WWF and then they don't
Speaker 2: continue on into like the real highlight of the Golden era.
Speaker 2: And I always found that weird where you have three
Speaker 2: wrestlers so established, so popular, but yet either demons or
Speaker 2: just wanting more power.
Speaker 3: Didn't like how Hogan was the star. They wanted to
Speaker 3: be the star.
Speaker 2: Like did you see that a lot around this time
Speaker 2: in the company where you're seeing the old guard upset
Speaker 2: that the new guard's taking over.
Speaker 4: Oh?
Speaker 1: Yeah, And it was a lot a lot of the
Speaker 1: it was old school, and a lot of them didn't
Speaker 1: like the direction the company was going in. But at
Speaker 1: the same time they just weren't capable. You mentioned Superstar,
Speaker 1: who I had the great opportunity. I got to work
Speaker 1: with him and just loved him. He was so he
Speaker 1: was very good to me. But he was not in
Speaker 1: good shape then and even then, you know, I know
Speaker 1: that his hip and it wasn't like he wasn't in
Speaker 1: a situation where he was going to go you know,
Speaker 1: so people like him, it wasn't like they were really
Speaker 1: going to be have the ability to even do to
Speaker 1: be a part of that. But you did have people
Speaker 1: that just didn't like what Vince was doing with it. Now,
Speaker 1: they wanted to be a part of the fact that
Speaker 1: they could make a lot more money.
Speaker 4: But you know, a lot of them, you know, the train.
Speaker 1: Had left the station at this point for you know,
Speaker 1: people like Bruno and you know, come on, these guys,
Speaker 1: no question that laid the tracks, but they weren't going
Speaker 1: to be part of this this era that it's gonna happen.
Speaker 3: It's so sad to see that happening.
Speaker 2: But Jim Brunzell replaces Don Morocco on this team now
Speaker 2: and again, as I mentioned, Jim Brunzel a year ago
Speaker 2: is in Survivor Series in the Big Tag Team ten
Speaker 2: on ten tag team match, the Killer Bees are there.
Speaker 3: He's not a Killer Bee anymore. He's just Jim Brunzell.
Speaker 3: And you know.
Speaker 2: He was a big wrestler before coming into the ww
Speaker 2: a former champion, just like his partner be Brian Blair,
Speaker 2: also part of the Killer Bees.
Speaker 3: Try saying that three times fast, but yet it's hard.
Speaker 3: It's hard.
Speaker 2: I just think it's interesting what happens here is like
Speaker 2: you're replacing wrestlers who are part of a match with
Speaker 2: people who you're not used to seeing in the singles competition.
Speaker 2: Now they're part of a big team. And plus Owen Hart,
Speaker 2: the blue Blazer, he's here but right into the matchup
Speaker 2: great the Hammer of Valentine. Injures Owen Harts, we'll say
Speaker 2: blue blazer. According to the six I think that we'll
Speaker 2: say testical. If we can say fun, we can say
Speaker 2: testical balls.
Speaker 1: Right he had and go ahead and say it. He
Speaker 1: had blue balls, Okay, for other reasons.
Speaker 3: Damn it, he told I had to write that joke down. Joke.
Speaker 2: Brett Hart, though, later said that Owen's heart testicles swelled
Speaker 2: to the size of a softball.
Speaker 4: So it just sounds painful even hearing about. You know,
Speaker 4: it's just it's it's like that natural thing.
Speaker 1: You see a guy take a shot to the groin,
Speaker 1: and you know, when you're a man, you can't help you.
Speaker 1: It's just kind of ooh yeah uh and god, I
Speaker 1: can't even imagine the pain that that he must have
Speaker 1: been in and it sidelined him for a while. But
Speaker 1: the Blue Blazer, you know, we you're hearing about just
Speaker 1: how talented Owen was. I mean, the guy was lighting
Speaker 1: up before he got to the w w F, he
Speaker 1: was lighting up the professional wrestling world, you know, going
Speaker 1: over in Europe and was you know, a phenom in
Speaker 1: a sense because of the stuff. I think he had
Speaker 1: kind of the same you know, hype going around him
Speaker 1: that like Dynamite.
Speaker 4: Kid had before he arrived.
Speaker 1: And when Owen finally got there, they didn't know what
Speaker 1: to do with them. And I always think the worst
Speaker 1: thing you can do is you put a mask on
Speaker 1: the guy, and anytime feathers are involved or sequenced like that,
Speaker 1: I mean, let put him out there, show people what
Speaker 1: he can do, and hopefully they find the right spot,
Speaker 1: the right gimmick for him. But it just didn't happen.
Speaker 1: And then then he gets hurt, and I don't, you know,
Speaker 1: there were other things that had physically impacted him, so
Speaker 1: it did, you know. The timing of it was just terrible,
Speaker 1: and I really felt bad for Owen because and throughout
Speaker 1: his career there, you know, I just thought, why can't
Speaker 1: they figure this south?
Speaker 4: This guy is so good.
Speaker 1: I mean, the stuff that he would do, you know,
Speaker 1: stuff he walked, the ropes and the flips and the
Speaker 1: what's amazing. And then imagine trying doing that with a
Speaker 1: cape on and a mask, where I don't even know.
Speaker 4: How you can do that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1: It's like doing it in the dark because you've got
Speaker 1: no peripheral vision. And yeah, and he would would would
Speaker 1: do all this, but uh, you know that was just
Speaker 1: so unfortunate. And then and that was a that was
Speaker 1: a big injury that had a big impact on him.
Speaker 2: Blue balls for the Blue Blazer, Yeah, b Brian Blair
Speaker 2: and the Killer Bees.
Speaker 4: You know, I hated that gimmick.
Speaker 2: The weirdest thing about this whole entire pay per view, though,
Speaker 2: is Coliseum Video puts out of the adjust tape, but
Speaker 2: they edit all of the matches except which I consider
Speaker 2: the most boring match, the ten on ten tag team match.
Speaker 2: So if you got this Coliseum video of this Survivor series,
Speaker 2: you got kind of a highlight reel of this matchup.
Speaker 2: You know, maybe, But not until two thousand and nine
Speaker 2: when they did the DVD release packages of all the
Speaker 2: Survivor series, is did you finally get the full actual match?
Speaker 2: Why do this when you have capabilities to put out
Speaker 2: at least two VHS tapes to make double your profits
Speaker 2: or change up the settings of VHS tape EPSP if
Speaker 2: you don't know, one could be longer, one could be
Speaker 2: short up, but the quality was different. Yet cut Why
Speaker 2: cut these matches but keep the tag team match in full?
Speaker 1: That is to this day one of the greatest mysteries
Speaker 1: because as you said, what we didn't really have a
Speaker 1: time constraint on this. As you said, if you know,
Speaker 1: if you only had they had, I don't know if
Speaker 1: they were ninety minute tapes that you could have and
Speaker 1: then well a two tape set four. I mean, let's
Speaker 1: be honest here with these coliseum videos, a lot of
Speaker 1: those matches were not there were garbage matches. They were
Speaker 1: these dark matches that I you know, but people ate
Speaker 1: it up. It didn't matter what it was, It didn't
Speaker 1: matter who it was. So anything they put out people
Speaker 1: were just you know, consuming and and you know, and
Speaker 1: it wasn't even edited. Well like a lot of this
Speaker 1: stuff was just these hard cut what I mean, I thought,
Speaker 1: what what that night did they bring in two cases
Speaker 1: of beer? Whoever was editing and they had they wanted
Speaker 1: to get to another party? I don't know, because and
Speaker 1: and the thing was too is if you look at
Speaker 1: those we did a ton of interviews that were separate
Speaker 1: from the live broadcast.
Speaker 4: Gene and I and I just I don't know.
Speaker 1: I would love to find out what they were thinking,
Speaker 1: because there was no logic behind it. The matches weren't
Speaker 1: that bad there. It wasn't a timing issue. It was
Speaker 1: there was a lot of and a chance to have
Speaker 1: all these different guys on these yes, on these tapes
Speaker 1: and like what, yeah it to me?
Speaker 4: I I to this.
Speaker 1: Day, I still don't get it, and it was it
Speaker 1: was horrible the way they did it, and people still
Speaker 1: talk about it today of like what the hell, uh,
Speaker 1: why did they they do that?
Speaker 4: I don't and the fact that you said they.
Speaker 1: Did the the tag team match was the one for
Speaker 1: in its entirety, which was about forty something minutes long.
Speaker 3: That's like the whole damn tape.
Speaker 4: Like what.
Speaker 1: It's just you know, the axe handles and the arm
Speaker 1: bars and and thank god they had I think they
Speaker 1: had the one rule that you couldn't you know, come
Speaker 1: in and break it up, uh, you know, because that's
Speaker 1: what a lot of those tag team things would be.
Speaker 4: You know, you're the.
Speaker 1: Tag guys, your guys getting pulverized, and then you come in,
Speaker 1: you break it up, and they had a rule there
Speaker 1: that you couldn't come in and do that, which would
Speaker 1: have probably extended it to an hour and half if
Speaker 1: they let that go. Uh, but it overall like that's
Speaker 1: that's what everybody wanted to seek.
Speaker 3: The doors, the big fan.
Speaker 1: All be in there for forty something minutes. Maybe I
Speaker 1: have no answer for you that one, Steve, because I'm
Speaker 1: still and then watching it, Uh some of the stuff
Speaker 1: now and going my god, I mean, just from a
Speaker 1: producer standpoint, did you even think about how this thing
Speaker 1: fat fit.
Speaker 4: Next to this thing?
Speaker 1: You just went chop, okay, put it in and let's
Speaker 1: get the hell out of here and make it make
Speaker 1: a nice cover and we're all good.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Like some people like disappear from the match, Like
Speaker 2: sometimes I'm being bounced off the rope and out of
Speaker 2: nowhere just hard cuts.
Speaker 3: Is something else happening?
Speaker 2: You couldn't like, let me bounce off the rope, come
Speaker 2: back at clothesline, then you do an edit there. You're
Speaker 2: right about that. I bet it was a thanksgiven night,
Speaker 2: you know, just drink and have a good time.
Speaker 4: I don't know.
Speaker 1: But one thing they did want to point out is
Speaker 1: it just shows you how strong the tag team division
Speaker 1: was and says that you could put ten tag teams
Speaker 1: that were recognizable everybody.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 1: It wasn't just let's go to your you two are
Speaker 1: going to be a tag team. You two are going
Speaker 1: to know they these were you know, it's pretty absolutely
Speaker 1: established tag teams.
Speaker 2: I love seeing the Bolsheviks, uh, Steve's favorite tag team.
Speaker 1: But yeah, the Rougos and which were heels at the time,
Speaker 1: and I love the facts when they came out, you
Speaker 1: know that everybody's coming out and they got the tiny
Speaker 1: little American flags because they're going to be moving to America,
Speaker 1: which was I thought it was boys, but they're in
Speaker 1: a sense, they're they're trying to put themselves over and
Speaker 1: and have the Americans love us. When when in the
Speaker 1: sense you know you're you're burying it. You know, you
Speaker 1: come out with a little flag, like when you come
Speaker 1: out with this big, giant American flag, and you know
Speaker 1: it was just another little, you know, jab.
Speaker 4: That put them over the other.
Speaker 1: Backstage angle to this and I'm sure you were going
Speaker 1: to bring it up, but I did mention the Rigo
Speaker 1: brothers that the British Bulldogs were also in that encounter.
Speaker 1: And I know all of our historians out there know
Speaker 1: very well what was.
Speaker 4: Going on between those two tag teams and.
Speaker 1: How it was strategically done to make sure that these
Speaker 1: two tag teams didn't end up really getting to see
Speaker 1: each other even backstage. And it's I don't know if
Speaker 1: you caught it, but early on in that match, Jacques
Speaker 1: and Dynamite actually go at it in the ring a
Speaker 1: bit not where there, and you know everybody's watching. You
Speaker 1: know it's Dynamite because Dynamite was known to he could
Speaker 1: he knew how to deliver in the ring if he
Speaker 1: wanted to make it stiff. But I think that he
Speaker 1: was under a really strict direction from Vince that you
Speaker 1: try anything, I'll make sure you never work in this
Speaker 1: business again. And uh, you know, and there was, you know,
Speaker 1: a couple of encounters. The Rougino brothers went out early
Speaker 1: because Vince wanted them out of the arena. He didn't
Speaker 1: want to take any chance that these guys were going
Speaker 1: to run into.
Speaker 4: Each other backstage.
Speaker 1: But whether it was planned or how it just went
Speaker 1: with the tag whatever, But both Ray and Jacques did
Speaker 1: a little dance in the in the ring with Dynamite.
Speaker 1: So I just thought that was pretty interesting to see
Speaker 1: if you knew what was happening backstage, and I know
Speaker 1: everybody else was back.
Speaker 4: On Okay, anything's gonna go on here, you know because
Speaker 4: I know because my kid was just he was a
Speaker 4: loose canning.
Speaker 1: You never knew that he might just say ef it
Speaker 1: and you know Cranik a shot, you know.
Speaker 2: Well, that's what's strange about this match too, is like
Speaker 2: you're first off, I mean you mentioned Aultonate Warrior is
Speaker 2: the sole survivor of the first matchup if you didn't know,
Speaker 2: so he's dominating there. This is really big for his
Speaker 2: paper of you in this twenty man tag team elimination match.
Speaker 2: I'm surprised that you'd actually allow Dynamite and Jock to
Speaker 2: get in the ring together because obviously, yes, everyone's backstage,
Speaker 2: and if you're watching this event while getting ready for
Speaker 2: your match, or you're backstage watching this events and you
Speaker 2: see these two steps in the ring, I can only
Speaker 2: imagine the reaction backstage going holy shit, like this happened backstage,
Speaker 2: no fan saw this. What if this happens in front
Speaker 2: of everyone's eyeballs on Thanksgiving Eve on Thanksgiving time, and
Speaker 2: let's break down the tag teams for a second. Because
Speaker 2: you have Demolition. The Conquisa Doors. Now Conquista Doors at
Speaker 2: this time are not superstars. They are on TV putting
Speaker 2: over other big teams, so very shocking to even see
Speaker 2: them here. The Brainbusters, the Bolsheviks, the Fabulous Rougeos, they
Speaker 2: taking on the Heart Foundation, the Rockers, the British Bulldogs,
Speaker 2: Powers of.
Speaker 3: Pain in Young Stallions. Now those are your teams.
Speaker 2: Fun fact is the first time and only time at
Speaker 2: Faberseries that Chum Michaels and Brett.
Speaker 3: Hart are on the same team.
Speaker 2: They do wrestle each other at ninety two Cyberseries and
Speaker 2: the World Championship Match. They do fight each other at
Speaker 2: Sarvaseries ninety seven and Treal screw Job.
Speaker 3: So this is just a little fun fact for you.
Speaker 2: But again, when you're backstage watching this match, or anyone's
Speaker 2: watching this match, or is everyone very concerned, what's gonna
Speaker 2: happen with the Bulldogs and the Rugos?
Speaker 4: Yeah, oh yeah. There was definitely.
Speaker 1: Tension and any time that they were in the same building,
Speaker 1: you didn't you kind of had that feeling. That's something
Speaker 1: you know that if Dynamite didn't let anything go with anybody,
Speaker 1: it was always he was going to get even with anybody.
Speaker 4: That crossed him.
Speaker 1: Uh, he had that mentality, and so there was, yes,
Speaker 1: absolutely the tension. But I also think which which uh
Speaker 1: you know, you get into a little deeper with Vince
Speaker 1: McMahon here, is that you know, he had to h
Speaker 1: control this circus where you've got all these different personalities.
Speaker 1: And I don't don't can't confirm this, but I just
Speaker 1: saw the way he would do this once in a
Speaker 1: while where he would you know, make an example in
Speaker 1: a sense out of somebody to send the message to
Speaker 1: the rest of the guys is you know, I'm the
Speaker 1: guy that's in control here. And I almost think that
Speaker 1: he wanted to make sure that there was some kind
Speaker 1: of these guys would you know, meet up somehow in
Speaker 1: the ring and nothing would happen because I'm in control here.
Speaker 1: I told that guy, if it happens, you're done. And
Speaker 1: so the fact that Dynamite went in there and followed
Speaker 1: the script didn't do anything kind of sent the message
Speaker 1: to the guys that you know, hey, yeah, we know
Speaker 1: who's really in control here. And you know, like I said,
Speaker 1: both of them, ray En and dynam and Jacques tangled
Speaker 1: with with Dynamite in there and it was brief, and
Speaker 1: they did what they had to do and then they
Speaker 1: would they get out. And so, uh, that's just another example.
Speaker 1: You can't you know, just imagine being Vince McMahon and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, it's not like it is today where most
Speaker 1: of these guys are just you know, contracted performers. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm not taking anything away from their physical talent and
Speaker 1: their their talent, you know, their everything they do. But
Speaker 1: back then, you've got a bunch of guys that you know,
Speaker 1: came from all over the country, worked in these territories,
Speaker 1: and when you had a beef, you didn't go to
Speaker 1: the promoter and say, this guy's picking on me.
Speaker 4: It was okay, let's.
Speaker 1: Settle it in the ring or what do you want
Speaker 1: to do this backstage because it's going to happen. And
Speaker 1: so it was a lot harder to control all these
Speaker 1: personalities who'd been used to uh settling it that way.
Speaker 1: And you had a massive collection of guys just like that.
Speaker 1: I mean, you could go down the list one after another,
Speaker 1: bad News Brown and you know all these guys that
Speaker 1: when it came down to it, they were kind of
Speaker 1: like said justice too, I don't give it.
Speaker 4: I'm not making enough.
Speaker 1: It's not worth enough to me and your question, you know,
Speaker 1: you're stepping in on my dignity.
Speaker 4: It's a man and all that.
Speaker 1: You know that my cheese mo And so there was
Speaker 1: always that element that there are they would just say
Speaker 1: f you and you know, and Vince McMahon got took
Speaker 1: shots to the face more than once from these guys
Speaker 1: who you know, weren't making any money or whatever or
Speaker 1: felt that he didn't deliver on a promise, and that's
Speaker 1: how they settled it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I wouldn't want to compare them to like wild animals,
Speaker 2: but you know, like an animal in the pound has
Speaker 2: been doing something on the streets for so long, will
Speaker 2: now vincon Man comes along, brings them in, has to
Speaker 2: retrain them between their mind and their attitudes towards the business.
Speaker 2: Because they came to going around like, hey, let's go
Speaker 2: beat drop in the parking lot.
Speaker 3: No, because you have to work tomorrow.
Speaker 2: And these fans paid to see through jows the bulldogs.
Speaker 2: We can't have to be walking around injured because people
Speaker 2: are paying to see you. And you know, and if
Speaker 2: you don't really know about this, you know, Dynamite Kid
Speaker 2: was bullying Jock.
Speaker 3: Well, Jock eventually is like, okay, you want to fuck
Speaker 3: with me?
Speaker 2: Well, roller quarters in his hand, punches dynamite in the face,
Speaker 2: knocks out his teeth, and this sets up the Rougeau
Speaker 2: Bulldog robbery backstage. And I've interviewed Jock about this, and
Speaker 2: I think we even did a whole podcast about the
Speaker 2: British Bulldogs about this whole scenario. We talked for like
Speaker 2: forty five minutes about this exactual fight, how it separated
Speaker 2: the locker room for a little while. But now you
Speaker 2: have a match where they're actually in it together. And
Speaker 2: I love how you put it together, where you're saying, well,
Speaker 2: Vince is in charge. He's going to prove in front
Speaker 2: of everyone in the world he's in charge by allowing
Speaker 2: these two men to touch each other on television, and
Speaker 2: Vince is going to control them and making sure they
Speaker 2: play nice and not go into business for themselves, which
Speaker 2: really shows you Vince cracking the whip and listen, no
Speaker 2: wrestler is bigger than the wrestling business. And I think
Speaker 2: Vinccman always tried to make sure people understood that. I
Speaker 2: know that's why probably him and Hogan had such a
Speaker 2: beef as years would go on, because maybe Hogan did
Speaker 2: become bigger than the business, and Vince did not like
Speaker 2: that because he wanted to maybe possibly take credit a
Speaker 2: sum for creating whole comania in the whole Cogan brand. Possibly.
Speaker 2: But this match does not get edited. As we mentioned,
Speaker 2: it goes forty minutes. It's actually on YouTube as well
Speaker 2: if you want to watch the whole thing that did upload,
Speaker 2: you know, Hogan's match or Warriors match.
Speaker 3: They're like, hey, you know what, the kids want to
Speaker 3: watch this. I'm sorry, nobody.
Speaker 1: All to see mister Fuji to a double turn X
Speaker 1: with the cane in the double.
Speaker 3: Turn Yeah, and that's the same way to go.
Speaker 2: Yeah, forty minutes to get to mister Fuji helping out
Speaker 2: Powers of Pain and then Demolition beating up mister Fuji
Speaker 2: in the end. Now we have Demolition as babyfaces Powers
Speaker 2: of Paint our heels. I interviewed the world about this.
Speaker 2: He was not happy about this because he felt like
Speaker 2: it hurt his bottom line because now little kids aren't
Speaker 2: telling their dad to go buy them of Pain merch
Speaker 2: because they're bad guys. They're telling their dad to go
Speaker 2: buy Demolition shirts because they're good guys. Powers of Pain
Speaker 2: did win the match, but how often I know, this
Speaker 2: is like a different business where you're trying to make
Speaker 2: sure the world knows you actually are a bad guy
Speaker 2: or you actually are a good guy. But in reality,
Speaker 2: it's a business. You're trying to make money. Wor Lord
Speaker 2: and Barbarian obviously lose money by turning. He like, do
Speaker 2: you ever hear the stories of people refusing because they
Speaker 2: realize the bottom line of their money is going to
Speaker 2: be completely ruined.
Speaker 1: Well, I'm sure they tried, but yeah, but I don't
Speaker 1: remember anyone really being successful at doing that. You pretty
Speaker 1: much did what they wanted you to do. If you
Speaker 1: wanted to keep working, now you could explain, you know,
Speaker 1: you could plead your case, and maybe in some instances
Speaker 1: they went, hey, you know, maybe that makes more sense.
Speaker 1: I think that that did happen. But if they were
Speaker 1: set on turning or however they were going to do
Speaker 1: or work for a storyline to you know, they saw
Speaker 1: that demolition was h you know, getting reception and getting
Speaker 1: really over and so let's let's turn them. So yeah,
Speaker 1: and and and also I'm sure when it comes down
Speaker 1: to it, you know, babyface or heel, what an opportunity
Speaker 1: for the warlord?
Speaker 4: Uh, you know what an opportunity for bar Barbarian to
Speaker 4: get that push. It didn't. It never really worked. And
Speaker 4: I that was you know, an example to me.
Speaker 1: Steve, of where you're trying to force something and as
Speaker 1: we've learned time and time and time again that you
Speaker 1: can't do it. Uh, it's all up to those folks
Speaker 1: in the seats out there. And that was another classic example.
Speaker 1: I mean they have them, you know, when that whole
Speaker 1: thing and it just was always want, want, want, you know,
Speaker 1: it just didn't really happen, and you got to have
Speaker 1: that personality and Warlord did get better adding promos.
Speaker 4: Barbarian was always who he was.
Speaker 1: I loved him, but you had to have somebody like,
Speaker 1: you know, a manager with them to try and put
Speaker 1: them over. And when it really comes down to it,
Speaker 1: you got to be able to carry you know, the character,
Speaker 1: that's what I used to call.
Speaker 4: You got to carry that.
Speaker 1: And you know, Undertaker was a classic example in a
Speaker 1: sense that you know earlier.
Speaker 4: I mean how many words did he say but when
Speaker 4: he but he didn't.
Speaker 1: Have to that that personality, that that presence that he
Speaker 1: had was so powerful that you know, Paul Barrow was
Speaker 1: great for it.
Speaker 4: But let's say he didn't.
Speaker 1: I don't think that it would make that much of
Speaker 1: a difference because he was so over and didn't have
Speaker 1: to say that anything.
Speaker 4: So it all comes down to carrying that character. It
Speaker 4: really does.
Speaker 1: Can you put that gimmick over? And Powers of Pain
Speaker 1: was just not going to happen, never did.
Speaker 4: Really.
Speaker 2: I want to ask you a quick question, and maybe
Speaker 2: you know you don't know the conquistadors names.
Speaker 3: Do you remember what their actual names were?
Speaker 5: Jose Estrada no no, no, no no no there wrestling
Speaker 5: like their wrestling character names.
Speaker 1: Oh no, I knew it was Jose, Luis Rivett, I
Speaker 1: was the other one, yea.
Speaker 4: One and two.
Speaker 1: But you know that was that was kind of but
Speaker 1: that was kind of along the lines of Mexican Luta
Speaker 1: Daughter's you know that they would it was you know,
Speaker 1: you would be the you know, the the crusher one.
Speaker 1: But that is that's that's hilarious. And I know if
Speaker 1: you ever saw the the Warehouse bit I did with
Speaker 1: Peter Rosenberg that we did for the the Anniversary episode
Speaker 1: and they had the Conquistadors in it and they and
Speaker 1: it was one of the funniest parts that whole bit.
Speaker 1: As they come out with you know anyway, because yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, and those and they they.
Speaker 3: Yes, that's all they think.
Speaker 2: That's how they spoke, I guess, you know, but hilarious,
Speaker 2: you know.
Speaker 1: But but I I have to think was it a
Speaker 1: rib to have them, you know, be like the last
Speaker 1: tag team in that match? I just have to think
Speaker 1: it was. I I just see Pat and them just
Speaker 1: and Bruce thinking it was hilarious, like what what the
Speaker 1: Conquista doors last this whole thing, you know, because they
Speaker 1: got the crap beat out of them and you're like
Speaker 1: you what, you know, the shoulders up, like what what?
Speaker 1: So I think it was I think it was a
Speaker 1: rib just to have them, you know, last to the.
Speaker 4: End, and.
Speaker 2: You know, in Dose go to the end like they're
Speaker 2: the second to last team in the matchup. The Powers
Speaker 2: of Pain do win this and it's hilarious because everybody
Speaker 2: has a manager. You have Slick, you have Jimmy Hart,
Speaker 2: Bobby Heenen and mister Fuji all at ringside for that matchup.
Speaker 3: But this is the end of the British Bulldogs.
Speaker 2: They're out of the company after this, and recently some
Speaker 2: pictures have popped up Vince McMahon visiting Japan around this
Speaker 2: time a few months after this, and the Bulldogs are
Speaker 2: competing there and I saw the story was amazing. I
Speaker 2: was shotgun. I never saw these photos before. And Vince's
Speaker 2: backstage in Japan and the Bulldogs are in these photos.
Speaker 2: And then the caption was Vince McMahon walks in it like, oh, Bulldogs,
Speaker 2: when you're coming back? And according to the story, Dynamite
Speaker 2: Kids said, We're never coming back.
Speaker 3: You see you next Tuesday.
Speaker 2: Well, Davy Boy Smith comes back and he does has
Speaker 2: a pretty decent run in the WWF.
Speaker 3: Done of my kid.
Speaker 2: He is done with the company. Next matchup, though, is
Speaker 2: Jake to Snink Roberts his team versus under the Giants team.
Speaker 2: As you mentioned before, some of these wrestlers you're wondering
Speaker 2: why are they here, And so far we've discovered Conhesadors
Speaker 2: and Sam Houston and Mom Bass. But in this match
Speaker 2: you have Jake this, Nick Roberts, Hacksaw, Jim Duggett, Tito Santana.
Speaker 2: Makes sense to me. Also on the team is Ken Petera.
Speaker 2: If you don't know, he has an amazing story about
Speaker 2: beating up a bunch of police officers and some time, yeah,
Speaker 2: two years and according to kem Petera while he was
Speaker 2: in jail for two years. Vince McMahon paid him the
Speaker 2: whole time while he was in jail. And when people
Speaker 2: give vinccman shit for all the things he's ever done
Speaker 2: in this world, when I heard that story, I thought, wow,
Speaker 2: like he didn't have to do that at all, but
Speaker 2: he did a lot of it.
Speaker 1: And there's there's countless numbers of stories that just showed
Speaker 1: the But it also showed.
Speaker 4: You just how.
Speaker 1: You know, what a unique character Vince McMahon is that
Speaker 1: you just you know, he would do horrific things and
Speaker 1: just humiliating things to people.
Speaker 4: And then at the same time he.
Speaker 1: Was he took care of a lot of guys that
Speaker 1: you know, Freddie Blassie was forever ambassador.
Speaker 4: And they continue to pay him.
Speaker 1: And Freddie would just, you know, as I told you,
Speaker 1: stories of us hanging out because he lived in Scarsdale,
Speaker 1: and we would go to all of these events because
Speaker 1: he was in the area. And every year they'd put
Speaker 1: him in a helicopter and he'd go to the Macy's
Speaker 1: Day Parade and I mean, he just was and Vince,
Speaker 1: I mean Freddie, there wasn't a whole lot Freddy could do.
Speaker 1: Freddy's every piece of his body was fused together, but
Speaker 1: you know he still had it and but Vince kept
Speaker 1: him on the payroll because and countless other guys. So
Speaker 1: he had this the side of him that a lot
Speaker 1: of people don't know that much about. But that's one
Speaker 1: of the examples like that, him paying Ken Petera.
Speaker 4: And it wasn't something he publicly, you know, made.
Speaker 1: Sure everybody knew about, no, but you know he did
Speaker 1: that for a lot of those guys, and you know
Speaker 1: guys that went in with him early and stuck by
Speaker 1: him and loyal, Well he was loyal right back to them.
Speaker 2: Kem Petera. Again, he had a wife and a child
Speaker 2: at the time. So if you man ended up paying
Speaker 2: the whole time. So you know this, his house still
Speaker 2: has a mortgage while he's in jail. You know, they
Speaker 2: still need to eat. And Vin's paid that entire time
Speaker 2: and they used at his jail time is a storyline
Speaker 2: when he got back and they debuty.
Speaker 3: He didn't work out for him there.
Speaker 2: But Scott Casey's also on Jake the Snake Roberts's team
Speaker 2: now originally on Jake's team. You have Jyd Well he
Speaker 2: quits because he sees more opportunities somewhere else. He is
Speaker 2: replaced by b Ryan Blair of the Killer Bees. He
Speaker 2: also quits the company because they want him to turn
Speaker 2: heel eventually, and he says, no, I don't want to
Speaker 2: do that, so he's out. They both get replaced by
Speaker 2: Scott Casey. Scott Casey is an enhancement talent weekly on
Speaker 2: Superstars and Wrestling Challenge and Primetime Wrestling. So just like Casadores,
Speaker 2: you're like, damn it, we're running out of people. We
Speaker 2: gotta throw somebody in there. Scott Casey. Why why Scott?
Speaker 2: You couldn't find anybody else?
Speaker 4: No, obviously not the you know, I said the roster was.
Speaker 1: A bit thin at the time as far as recognizable names,
Speaker 1: and uh, you know, I'm surprised I usin g at
Speaker 1: eighty eight. I thought we were stronger then, but you know,
Speaker 1: that was further down the road when we had you know,
Speaker 1: and some of these guys became more established. But yeah,
Speaker 1: it was kind of like, Okay, he's a good hand, Okay,
Speaker 1: put him in there.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's just it's shocking, like everyone's coming down the island.
Speaker 2: Then you see Scott Casey, who's he Yeah, Yeah, Who's
Speaker 2: who's this guy? He this the guy who lost a
Speaker 2: Dino Bravo on Superstars ten thousand times in a row.
Speaker 2: But on on Andre's team, you have armed a giant
Speaker 2: Dino Bravo, Rick Rude, Harley Race, mister Perfect. So established
Speaker 2: teams right there. All great wrestlers, all great talented wrestlers.
Speaker 2: I always enjoyed them. It's all about how Andrea's afraid
Speaker 2: of Jake Snake, and Andre's health is obviously always a
Speaker 2: concern every time the seeds, But like, how long did
Speaker 2: they think they could just keep pushing Andre out there?
Speaker 2: Because Rustumania is six in nineteen ninety is the end
Speaker 2: of Andre's real run in the company because he can
Speaker 2: no longer physically continue doing this. Even in this match,
Speaker 2: he is holding onto the top rope while doing moves.
Speaker 2: He's not active like Resumenia three. The dude is in
Speaker 2: the middle of the ring. He's not standing by the
Speaker 2: rope the whole time, chopping Hogan. Like at one point,
Speaker 2: do you think, like, maybe we shouldn't keep doing this,
Speaker 2: but Andre wants to keep going, so we allow this
Speaker 2: to keep happening.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, I mean he didn't really actually.
Speaker 1: Wasn't totally gone for a number more of more years,
Speaker 1: you know, I think it was ninety two or ninety
Speaker 1: three before.
Speaker 2: Well he passes away in ninety three, but he's no
Speaker 2: longer active. And after nineteen ninety's done wrestling, yeah physically.
Speaker 4: But he was still around.
Speaker 1: And yeah, but as we've talked about, you know, Andre,
Speaker 1: that was that's all he had in a sense, and
Speaker 1: it was it was tough for him to want to
Speaker 1: go away.
Speaker 4: He didn't want to.
Speaker 1: He wanted to, uh, maybe not make as many appearances,
Speaker 1: but he didn't want to just not be seen anymore.
Speaker 1: And so you know, Vince had this very difficult situation
Speaker 1: of wanting to protect him in a sense that in
Speaker 1: his image and his lasting legacy not to be this
Speaker 1: crumpled giant with an obvious pain all the time. And
Speaker 1: but you know, but Andre didn't want to let it
Speaker 1: go because he loved that atmosphere. He loved being a
Speaker 1: part of it. And so they would find things for
Speaker 1: him to do where he would not have to be
Speaker 1: really active in the ring and make him part of
Speaker 1: the storyline. But it was it was sad to watch
Speaker 1: that whole period of time, and I wish I would
Speaker 1: have been around him when he was younger, because I
Speaker 1: know Lord Alfred Hayes telling me he remembered him as
Speaker 1: a seventeen year old kid who could bounce all over
Speaker 1: the ring. He said he was an incredible athlete. He
Speaker 1: played soccer. He was, you know, a very talented athlete.
Speaker 3: Doing dropkicks, yeah, videos, right, yeah, and a.
Speaker 4: Lot of the stuff. If you see stuff with him
Speaker 4: performing in Japan.
Speaker 1: I mean, he was all over the ring and could
Speaker 1: do everything. But when you're carrying around that much weight
Speaker 1: and your body is taking a beating like that, it
Speaker 1: gets beat down a lot earlier than others. And by
Speaker 1: the time, you know, Andrea was near forty, he was
Speaker 1: already a wreck. So you know, I think that we
Speaker 1: all were hoping and praying that that maybe not necessarily
Speaker 1: going to be the ring, but he was going to
Speaker 1: live a lot longer. But you know, that was that
Speaker 1: was just a fact. People that are that have that
Speaker 1: disease don't live for a long time, and that was
Speaker 1: certainly the case with Andre. And it wasn't like he
Speaker 1: really took care of himself either.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Good, Yeah, that's a good point.
Speaker 2: You know, he is a giant, so he's just like well,
Speaker 2: this is the time where you can be big and
Speaker 2: that's all you really need, Haystat Calhouns or you know
Speaker 2: people King Kong Bun and things like that, like you
Speaker 2: just a big dude, Hey, you should be a wrestler,
Speaker 2: and that it was kind of still the circus where
Speaker 2: now I wouldn't say the freaks, but like if if
Speaker 2: you were really tall or really big, boom, you can
Speaker 2: make a living in this business because it was about
Speaker 2: traveling to town to town being an attraction versus being
Speaker 2: being an athlete.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and there weren't and it wasn't like the crowd
Speaker 1: was going to be disappointed that he didn't do something
Speaker 1: right right everybody, but you know, everybody understood in a
Speaker 1: sense what his limitations were and if he would if
Speaker 1: he would get out there, you know, and you know,
Speaker 1: here's the arm on somebody, and you know, he wasn't
Speaker 1: gonna be go taking these big bumps and he was
Speaker 1: gonna get tied up in the ropes or whatever it
Speaker 1: was going to be. But that's all he had to do.
Speaker 1: It was just him being out there, people seeing him,
Speaker 1: and uh, thee the fans understood that.
Speaker 3: That's a good point too.
Speaker 2: Miss the perfect and Dino Bravo are the survivors in
Speaker 2: this matchup. But Rick Rude, he's wearing some lovely tights.
Speaker 2: He always know, he was always known for amazing tights. Well,
Speaker 2: this one particular service series, he's wearing tights with a
Speaker 2: woman's hands or grabbing his crotch in his ass and uh,
Speaker 2: apparently people loved it backstage, but I cually imagine when
Speaker 2: you know you bring a little.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, cover your eyes, Timmy, what going on, daddy?
Speaker 2: Like there's a hands What were the thoughts behind this
Speaker 2: because there was always these rumors. I know Jake and
Speaker 2: Rick Rud had a storyline where Rick Rud was hitting
Speaker 2: on Jake's wife and put her face on his crotch
Speaker 2: and yeah, the room is that we don't knows whose
Speaker 2: hands these are grabbing his crotch and backside.
Speaker 3: But what do people think of these?
Speaker 1: Yeah, they loved them. But at the same time, it
Speaker 1: wasn't you know, the attitude here. It wasn't we weren't
Speaker 1: in the gutter yet. It was very family friendly, is
Speaker 1: uh uh you know, we we know what's going on
Speaker 1: at the time. We love those crowd shots and the
Speaker 1: kids with the whole the whole Commania banners on and
Speaker 1: you know, the foam fingers, and then you got Rick
Speaker 1: fruit with a very suggestive uh. And the person that
Speaker 1: did his tights was really good. Uh. But he loved
Speaker 1: pushing it, and I I just had to wonder that day.
Speaker 1: I don't think Vincao. It was kind of like one
Speaker 1: of those what the hell is that?
Speaker 4: What is he doing?
Speaker 1: And there's also you know, the great story that you know,
Speaker 1: they went on Live with Regis and Kathy Lee with
Speaker 1: Bobby and and Rick had tights with Regis on his ass,
Speaker 1: I think, and and uh and Kathy Lee's face on
Speaker 1: his crotch.
Speaker 4: And she left the set.
Speaker 1: She was visible, like visibly upset by the whole thing that,
Speaker 1: you know, and and and offended. But he, yeah, he
Speaker 1: loved doing that, that whole bit with him and the
Speaker 1: hips out there and you Hillbilly's out there with your boyfriend.
Speaker 1: You know, you want to be here with me, And yeah,
Speaker 1: it worked, But that day I know that, you know,
Speaker 1: it was kind of a lot of those things. Everyone's
Speaker 1: gonna like, Vince see those you know, like whoo and
Speaker 1: goes out there and.
Speaker 3: Let's see those hips hands grad.
Speaker 1: Vince was like, what the hell you know not that
Speaker 1: he didn't love the toilet humor. I mean, there's no
Speaker 1: question about it. But Vince was wasn't good for business.
Speaker 1: I think in the way he was thinking about it,
Speaker 1: so but he got away with it.
Speaker 2: When you're selling like bed sheets and you know, little
Speaker 2: toys and action fas and wrestling buddies, and you got
Speaker 2: one of your guys buddies women's hands grabbing your dick
Speaker 2: and your ass, well that might be a problem. We're
Speaker 2: here the main event. It's the Megapower scene versus a
Speaker 2: Twin Towers team. It's Whole Cog and Rainy Savage, Coco
Speaker 2: Beware he'll Billy Jim and Hercules.
Speaker 3: It's this big boss Man, a Keem million Dollar Man,
Speaker 3: Haku and the Red Roosters on this team.
Speaker 2: Now, the whole concept behind some barvisiers usually is a
Speaker 2: team captain and then they have a team.
Speaker 3: In this particular match, we have co captains.
Speaker 2: The rumor is we have co captains because we don't
Speaker 2: want Hulk Cogan to be beneath Macha Man, who is
Speaker 2: the world champion, or we don't want mach A Man
Speaker 2: beneath Hut Cogan.
Speaker 4: You want to be on Hulk's team champion.
Speaker 3: How much thought went into that.
Speaker 2: We're like, well, we have egos, we can't piss off
Speaker 2: anyone here. Let's make sure that both men feel like
Speaker 2: they're the captains, they're co captains.
Speaker 3: Like did that actually make anyone happy?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 1: I think because remember they're working at the angle here,
Speaker 1: they're starting to work that angle with Elizabeth who's in there,
Speaker 1: and the tension between the hul Cogan and and Randy.
Speaker 4: So yeah, it made made sense. I don't think anybody
Speaker 4: objected to the fact.
Speaker 1: Why wouldn't Why wouldn't the you know, the champion be
Speaker 1: a captain and the whole Cogan was whole Cogan And
Speaker 1: so I think that the the only thing that really
Speaker 1: did stand out is, of course at the end, Hogan
Speaker 1: must pose.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 1: So there was always that that that shoot of uh,
Speaker 1: you know, whether you like it or not, I'm I'm
Speaker 1: the king, I'm the king, I'm the real king here
Speaker 1: and uh and and.
Speaker 4: Terry always had to have that.
Speaker 1: It was basically, you know, there were certainly times where
Speaker 1: he you know, would put people over, but the bottom
Speaker 1: line was is that just know that when it all comes.
Speaker 4: Down to it, I'm the king maker.
Speaker 1: And so when when when the last shut thing in
Speaker 1: what people remembering is you know, the whole Hulk and
Speaker 1: that was very important to him. And I'm sure you
Speaker 1: know Randy knew how things work, but I I I'll
Speaker 1: guarantee you I believe that you know, it irked him.
Speaker 4: It was like, you know, can you just give it up?
Speaker 4: Yeah once in a while.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm the world champion. Don't you want me to be?
Speaker 3: You know, health, that's how you.
Speaker 1: Put that's how you elevate everybody else. And uh, you know, selfishly,
Speaker 1: I think in some ways, you know, Terry didn't what's
Speaker 1: going to do that and whether it was Randy or anybody,
Speaker 1: but you know, that was business too. Like Terry was
Speaker 1: going to do everything he could. He had to take
Speaker 1: care of Hulk Ink and uh, that's what the whole
Speaker 1: business is about.
Speaker 2: It is interesting that so much hate lands on Hulk
Speaker 2: Cogan as long as like in life, in and death.
Speaker 3: Because of the way he used his.
Speaker 2: Power in politicking to get these moments of being able
Speaker 2: to pose say by himself or being able to be
Speaker 2: a co captain when he's not world champion. And if
Speaker 2: you're a whole Cogan and you're his friends and you're
Speaker 2: his family. They're not going like, hey, you shouldn't do that.
Speaker 2: They're thinking, yeah, keep doing that, because while you do that,
Speaker 2: you help us. And I get it. Savage is the
Speaker 2: world champion. So if I was matching man, of course,
Speaker 2: it's like any job. If you are, say the manager
Speaker 2: at your job, as Machaman was saying, the manager is
Speaker 2: the world champion. But you have an employee that everybody
Speaker 2: loves more than everybody thinks is better than you. And
Speaker 2: yet you're supposed to be the head honchow, but yet
Speaker 2: no one thinks you are.
Speaker 3: That must have eaten Matchhimen alive.
Speaker 4: Yeah, but let's not forget.
Speaker 1: And you mentioned that about how business works, but you
Speaker 1: know this is even more so that you're on your
Speaker 1: own and you got to fight and scratch for every
Speaker 1: inch you get, and you turn your back or or
Speaker 1: don't keep up that pressure or you know, persistence, then
Speaker 1: you're gonna lose. You're gonna fall back down the down
Speaker 1: the ladder. And uh, you know you got to give
Speaker 1: those guys credit. Uh, you could say what you want
Speaker 1: about Terry Belia. I went on how he conducted business,
Speaker 1: but that's what kept him on top for as long
Speaker 1: as as he was and.
Speaker 4: And same with Randy. Randy did the same thing in
Speaker 4: his own way, but.
Speaker 1: It was that's that's how it worked, uh and and
Speaker 1: Vince kept it that way.
Speaker 4: It was not a team sport.
Speaker 1: It's just not that. It wasn't like you know, teams
Speaker 1: at the corporate level or something. Sorry, you know, it
Speaker 1: all comes out as long as you're an earner for
Speaker 1: me will take care of you. If you're not, I
Speaker 1: got somebody else. And so that's that's the way it was.
Speaker 1: They never that's.
Speaker 4: There was no union.
Speaker 1: There was no uh, you know, taking care of your
Speaker 1: you know, you took care of your buddies, but there
Speaker 1: was no uh, you know, Okay, now it's your turn.
Speaker 2: Right And especially I saw Chelsea Green do an interview
Speaker 2: about this recently where she said, you could be the greatest,
Speaker 2: you could try the hardest and works as much as
Speaker 2: you can. It doesn't matter because it's vinsic man show.
Speaker 2: If he thinks that you maybe you're working as hard
Speaker 2: as you can and you're doing the best work you can, well,
Speaker 2: he doesn't see it that way. It's a one man
Speaker 2: showed reality, and he wants what he wants and he
Speaker 2: doesn't give a shit if you're trying as hard as
Speaker 2: you can.
Speaker 3: Because Hogan is the one. Look look out. We see
Speaker 3: yellow T shirts everywhere.
Speaker 2: Look at the action figures, the foam fingers, the bandan
Speaker 2: is he's selling the merch. Hey, you know, maybe Sam
Speaker 2: Houston is working double shots and doing all this great work.
Speaker 3: Well guess what you're not bringing in the merch? Well,
Speaker 3: we don't care.
Speaker 4: That's all numbers. Yep.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I think people forget about that part where
Speaker 2: in football or basketball it's really based on athletic skill.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's like if.
Speaker 2: I beat you in basketball, it's athletic skills that I
Speaker 2: beat you in basketball. This is you have to have
Speaker 2: the look, you have to have the right touch, the
Speaker 2: right time, the it factor. It's not based in real skill.
Speaker 2: It's based in talent of being a great performer. In Hogan,
Speaker 2: whatever you think of him, an amazing performer, and that's
Speaker 2: why he's in the state where he is. If I
Speaker 2: was manching man, of course I'd be angry. I'm the
Speaker 2: world champion, But why am I not on every poster
Speaker 2: by myself?
Speaker 3: Why am I not everywhere by myself? I get it,
Speaker 3: But then you.
Speaker 4: Got to be a shark too.
Speaker 1: That's Another part of that mentality is that you you know,
Speaker 1: you could, you could have all of that, but if
Speaker 1: you aren't willing to, you know, cut the line and
Speaker 1: do whatever you gotta do to stay up there on top,
Speaker 1: you're gonna get knocked right off that mountain because somebody will.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I agree.
Speaker 2: And like in this whole card, you realize some of
Speaker 2: these names are not going to be household names or not.
Speaker 2: Scott Casey's not going home and with a million dollar check, no,
Speaker 2: like he after this event. It's like, where'd Scott Casey go?
Speaker 2: You know, in the future. When you think of Wrestler's
Speaker 2: Top ten, Top twenty, Hogan and Savage are on that list.
Speaker 3: Some names aren't.
Speaker 2: Why are some names on the list because they were
Speaker 2: ruthless when they had to stay on top. They weren't
Speaker 2: gonna let someone else step on them. They were gonna
Speaker 2: step on you first. And I think people forget that
Speaker 2: all the time about wrestling or just in life in general,
Speaker 2: where if you won't step on that guy, he'll step
Speaker 2: on you first.
Speaker 1: Jake Roberts classic example. You take somebody like that who
Speaker 1: didn't have the drive and the ruthlessness and the you know,
Speaker 1: creativeness and all that.
Speaker 4: He could have been a.
Speaker 1: Very very mediocre wrestler, low card guy forever, but that
Speaker 1: wasn't Jake Roberts.
Speaker 3: No, he's one of the best of all time.
Speaker 2: And during this just matchup though Big Boss Man, he
Speaker 2: gets huging on the outside, he handcuffs him to the
Speaker 2: bottom up and beats the living crap out of him
Speaker 2: with his nightstick, and.
Speaker 3: He he's taking.
Speaker 2: Some celeberties with those with these shots. He's a little
Speaker 2: I'll tap you a little bit. This is one of
Speaker 2: those first like, oh my god moments where ears would
Speaker 2: go on. Where you see you know, Repo Man hanging
Speaker 2: the British bulldog by a news by his hook, you
Speaker 2: see Jake with a King Cobra biting. Is this like
Speaker 2: really one of the first moments I'm like, oh, this
Speaker 2: is not a kid friendly moment.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: No then, and I think that kind of reverberated around
Speaker 1: that people are like, wow, did you see that? You
Speaker 1: know it wasn't just a cup you know, a shot
Speaker 1: and laid across the back. You know he was doing
Speaker 1: you know, punching them with it, yeah, headshots that looked like.
Speaker 3: Choking them with it. Like yeah, yeah, it's an endless
Speaker 3: beat down.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think that they they that was intended
Speaker 1: at least on the part of you know, Big boss
Speaker 1: Man and Hulk too. Hulk wanted like, yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: let's lay it in, make this look really good. And
Speaker 1: they pulled it off because a lot of people were
Speaker 1: really kind of like, oh my god, you know, that
Speaker 1: was brutal and uh, you know, boss Man was really
Speaker 1: good on that thing with that stick, and really he
Speaker 1: could make it look like like he just walloped the
Speaker 1: guy across his skull and the guy never felt the thing.
Speaker 1: And it was the same as you know, the way
Speaker 1: you know, you see, guys are really good at punches
Speaker 1: and that timing and you know, and that's you really
Speaker 1: had to be good at that, and you had to
Speaker 1: really trust the guy you were working with that.
Speaker 4: You know, that that was doing that.
Speaker 1: And boss Man was one of those guys you could here,
Speaker 1: I mean he was he was really good at it.
Speaker 2: And like while this is happening, oh my god, he
Speaker 2: sold it like someone was shooting in the face. But
Speaker 2: while this is going on, Macha Man is also getting
Speaker 2: beaten up, and this again is starting the friction of
Speaker 2: the Mega Powers, where Savage is looking for a tag well,
Speaker 2: Hogan's handcuff from the bottom savage. Come on, dude, like
Speaker 2: I need to tag you, Like, what are you doing
Speaker 2: down there? Getting beat up with a come on? Can
Speaker 2: you help me out? So like they're they're teasing these
Speaker 2: little bits here and there having the Mega powers explode.
Speaker 2: But as the DVD releases have we talked about how
Speaker 2: this Survivors series is edited terribly for the VHS release. Well,
Speaker 2: when the DVD's come out later, you're all excited, I
Speaker 2: can't wait to watch this. It's full, it's I got
Speaker 2: to see all the matches. We get to this matchup
Speaker 2: and Coco Bees wears ass is blurred out the whole time,
Speaker 2: and you're thinking, is like his dick, So what's going on?
Speaker 1: Like did he have ravishing Rick Rude's artists.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's not blurred on his crotch there, But cocobe
Speaker 2: Ware has the w w F logo on his ass
Speaker 2: company man all the way through. But in when the
Speaker 2: DVD is released in two thousand and nine, well, the
Speaker 2: World Wildlife Fund has already sued the WWF for the
Speaker 2: name brand. We have switched to WWE, so we cannot
Speaker 2: show that logo.
Speaker 3: So if you have the two thousand and nine.
Speaker 2: DVD releases, Coco's ass has blurred the whole time.
Speaker 3: And this is really just stupid. It's stupid because it
Speaker 3: involves the website.
Speaker 2: Apparently the World wild World Wildlife Fund got the rights
Speaker 2: to the website before WWF.
Speaker 3: Yes, why couldn't you.
Speaker 2: Just I don't know, like, instead of smelling out WWF
Speaker 2: dot com, why don't just call it World Wrestling Federation
Speaker 2: dot com.
Speaker 1: Well, yeah, but when it came down to it, and
Speaker 1: let's just say, Okay, they win the lawsuit, they get
Speaker 1: the rights to WWF.
Speaker 4: But part of that.
Speaker 1: Deal would have been, look, all right, fine, we gotta
Speaker 1: you know, we're gonna change the WWE where we're gonna do,
Speaker 1: but to say, look, everything we've done to this point,
Speaker 1: we're not going to magically eliminate. So it's gonna show
Speaker 1: up because it's from a different era before this happened.
Speaker 4: And if it's out there, who cares?
Speaker 1: Do you think anybody's gonna confuse that cocob ware has
Speaker 1: got WWF on his ass because he's trying to promote
Speaker 1: the World Wildlife Fund And why not then okay, then
Speaker 1: maybe then look what we're promoting the WWF for you.
Speaker 4: It was just and you've.
Speaker 1: Seen the man hours, the person hours, you know it
Speaker 1: took to eliminate all of that.
Speaker 4: It's just so stupid. It just makes no sense to me.
Speaker 1: It should have just been okay, from moving forward, anything
Speaker 1: that we do will not have a WWF logo on it.
Speaker 1: But give us a break. We've been at this for
Speaker 1: a while. There's a lot of material on video and
Speaker 1: other things. We uh, you know, we'll take down whatever
Speaker 1: we can from our websites and all that, but everything
Speaker 1: else out there, come on, give us a break.
Speaker 2: It was truly insane because I remember buying the WrestleMania Anthology,
Speaker 2: was the first twenty WrestleManias, and all the turn buckles
Speaker 2: for like at least I don't know, like six WrestleManias.
Speaker 2: The logos are on the turn buckles. That's three in
Speaker 2: each courage. Every time they every time they showed a
Speaker 2: turn buckles spot and again these are y camera shots
Speaker 2: close ups they blurted out. It ruined the experience of
Speaker 2: watching these events because no longer were they intact.
Speaker 1: Not anybody would have noticed it or paid any attention.
Speaker 1: And you know today when you edit, you can track it.
Speaker 1: You know you know, if you want to blur something
Speaker 1: and you'd put to you know, I don't know exactly
Speaker 1: how it works, but I've seen how people do that
Speaker 1: and then it'll automatically do it. Well back then, uh,
Speaker 1: they didn't have anything that did that really attracted. So
Speaker 1: if the thing moved, you would have to keep you'd
Speaker 1: have to manually go wherever it went to blur it out.
Speaker 1: And it was a long process. You're talking, you know,
Speaker 1: hours and hours. It's just stupid. Anyway, that's a good
Speaker 1: side note to all that, but it really made no
Speaker 1: sense to me.
Speaker 4: And big deal.
Speaker 1: Maybe they liked the fact that every time it was blurred,
Speaker 1: people would say, well, why is that, and then somebody
Speaker 1: would tell them the story of the World Wildlife Fund.
Speaker 1: I don't know, but good lord.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we weren't using panda bears with Kocobe War's ass well.
Speaker 1: And then also the whole thing is that you know
Speaker 1: we do it, I do it that when we talk
Speaker 1: about it, it's like we mentioned WWF, like, oh, I
Speaker 1: mean WWE. Well it wasn't WWE back then. It was WWF.
Speaker 1: But you know, everybody, all the wrestlers today, you hear
Speaker 1: them talking and they'll say you know back in nineteen
Speaker 1: eighty whatever the WWE was it, It's like, I know
Speaker 1: you really want to say ww S.
Speaker 3: I always will say WWF on the show.
Speaker 4: No, I will not do with the disclaimer in there.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know WWE, but I just think you
Speaker 1: recognize what it was and it was part of an
Speaker 1: era and things changed and then it became the WWE.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I will never even like Twitter and X. I'm sorry.
Speaker 2: It's Twitter forever for me. Folks can call it X
Speaker 2: all you want, but it's not what do you call it?
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's not.
Speaker 1: You can't say it's a tweet anymore. It's what is it?
Speaker 4: An X?
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 2: I'm not going to get We're not going to get
Speaker 2: sued by Ela mosqu here, alright.
Speaker 4: And what is it? Is it?
Speaker 1: When somebody they they tweeted you, You could say that,
Speaker 1: but what do they exed me?
Speaker 3: They X you?
Speaker 4: I guess so confused.
Speaker 3: Well, I'm still confused.
Speaker 2: Why we're talking about Cookobee Wears asked more than cold
Speaker 2: and match a man Raandy Savage, But that's just me. Obviously,
Speaker 2: the Mega Powers do win the match up, and we
Speaker 2: do see Savage looking hurt in discourage but there's Hogan posing,
Speaker 2: and more Elizabeth lurking, and more, more eyeball looking, and
Speaker 2: more as.
Speaker 3: They're lust in those eyes. We're still continuing that.
Speaker 2: Started at Summer Slam eighty eight, the first ever Summer Slam,
Speaker 2: and then here we are at the second Survivors Series,
Speaker 2: continuing on that and they get it builds to Rumble
Speaker 2: eighty nine, build off on that main event match where
Speaker 2: Machman gets thrown out of the ring and the lands
Speaker 2: on Elizabeth and Hogan's backstage. We've talked about that a
Speaker 2: little bit here and there, but this is really again
Speaker 2: another breadcrumb and the loaf of the Mega Powers exploding storyline.
Speaker 3: So the biggest thing about the crumb, Yeah, yeah, I
Speaker 3: just made it up right now.
Speaker 2: Yeah, use use it tonight at work when you talk
Speaker 2: about politics. I just think it's funny, though, how chopped
Speaker 2: up this event really was.
Speaker 3: Like again, it's very strange that happened.
Speaker 2: But all in all, this is I think I've noticed
Speaker 2: over this course of talking about it, this is the
Speaker 2: end of the rocking and Wrestling era where we had
Speaker 2: Don Morocco on Saturday morning cartoons on the Rock and
Speaker 2: Wrestling Connection cartoon, we had Tito on there as well.
Speaker 2: That part's over. We no longer have that era. We
Speaker 2: are in the whole Camania Golden Era. We're only going
Speaker 2: up here, We're not going back down. So for you,
Speaker 2: like the Golden Era obviously is going on now, but
Speaker 2: is this just truly the end of another era inside
Speaker 2: of the Golden Era?
Speaker 4: Yes?
Speaker 1: Yeah, And as we talked about earlier, that the roster
Speaker 1: at the time was a little thin. They hadn't really
Speaker 1: established these superstars. I mean, I think at one point,
Speaker 1: you know, there was forty superstars that were.
Speaker 4: Just household names, you know.
Speaker 1: So, uh and I'm based, I'm basically a newcomer to
Speaker 1: this and uh and and you know, I feel blessed
Speaker 1: that I that I came in when I did, because,
Speaker 1: uh then I feel like, you know, the beginnings, it
Speaker 1: was about whole Camania, but it was just whole Comania.
Speaker 4: It wasn't really all these other things going on.
Speaker 1: Randy is getting, you know, really established, and then you're
Speaker 1: gonna eventually see the emergence of people like Sean Michaels
Speaker 1: and and Brett Hart on his own and and all that.
Speaker 1: So there's a lot going on. But you're exactly right.
Speaker 4: It was. It was another beginning, I think in a sense, and.
Speaker 1: Uh, I really I just thought, when I look back,
Speaker 1: what a great time to be a part of the
Speaker 1: w w F. Then then, yeah, and we still had
Speaker 1: the tag teams. It was that was still very strong.
Speaker 1: But then you started to see some of these other
Speaker 1: personalities really start to uh come to the forefront and
Speaker 1: become household names among all of the fans out there
Speaker 1: that can that base continued to grow. So, yeah, you're
Speaker 1: you're I felt exactly the same way that it was
Speaker 1: really coming into what would become as we refer to
Speaker 1: all the time as a Golden Era.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and that's what we call this podcast right here
Speaker 2: on the Golden with Sean Mooney. And again, this is
Speaker 2: your first Survivor series, and you know we've talked about
Speaker 2: so many other events, But for you, before we wrap
Speaker 2: this up, Oka, what does this Sarvisaries mean to you personally?
Speaker 3: Not as a talent working there, but for you.
Speaker 2: Personally, because this is your first one, You've only been
Speaker 2: there for about six months. How are you feeling mentally
Speaker 2: after this event and then rewatching it again?
Speaker 4: Well, that is a great question.
Speaker 1: And I got a chance to look at some of
Speaker 1: these early interviews that I did, and I could just.
Speaker 4: See how I was developing. I was getting more comfortable.
Speaker 1: And one thing that was great about these events, these
Speaker 1: events is that it gave me the opportunity to do
Speaker 1: a lot of work and work with a lot of
Speaker 1: different people, and so I could see whatever, you know,
Speaker 1: my shtick or my development was happening. And I do
Speaker 1: remember a conversation having with Vince that I really liked
Speaker 1: some of the backstage stuff where because I kind of
Speaker 1: looked at it. My viewpoint was doing a you know,
Speaker 1: a backstage interview with a professional athlete, you know, say
Speaker 1: it was a professional baseball player or a football player.
Speaker 4: Or something like that.
Speaker 1: And Vince said, yes, that's right, but you remember your take,
Speaker 1: it's got to be to another level. It's always with us,
Speaker 1: it's another level. And I saw that, you know, that
Speaker 1: was a little too casual almost, you know, it was almost.
Speaker 4: Kind of like the hand in the pocket kind of
Speaker 4: a thing.
Speaker 1: And if you'll see, from that point on though, it
Speaker 1: was always you know, the energy was was completely different,
Speaker 1: and so that was you know, it was all part
Speaker 1: of my development. But I did really like doing these
Speaker 1: events because you know, the pressure was on and you
Speaker 1: would be in these mass interviews and I always felt like,
Speaker 1: you know, once you got when I got through with
Speaker 1: those and I and successfully yeah, and everything went well,
Speaker 1: and that belt that would build your confidence.
Speaker 4: And I just could see I started getting.
Speaker 1: More and more comfortable, more and more confident, And it
Speaker 1: was because of doing these kind of events, because it
Speaker 1: was you know, you had to nail.
Speaker 2: It, especially between you know, eight different people with wrestlers,
Speaker 2: with managers, the mass, the bo maybe even surrounding you
Speaker 2: backstage while interviewing is a hygiene.
Speaker 3: Well for these wrestlers, No, a.
Speaker 4: Lot of baby oil.
Speaker 1: I remember a lot of smells, yeah, and few were
Speaker 1: a little more fragrant than others who didn't watch those
Speaker 1: tights as often.
Speaker 5: But I'll rombas yeah, yeah, I think the ropes probably
Speaker 5: smelled more than anything but the last.
Speaker 1: But anyway, you know, as I always have said, you know,
Speaker 1: you didn't want to be the guy, and that that
Speaker 1: screwed it up. And so it was tremendous training for me.
Speaker 1: And I lean back even to this day of those
Speaker 1: days that after that, no matter what I did, there
Speaker 1: was never pressure.
Speaker 4: That I felt like I did then.
Speaker 1: And when you could you know, as I always say,
Speaker 1: you know, answer the call, stand in front of that
Speaker 1: red light and go and get it done. There's nothing
Speaker 1: like that that then, the way it was then, And
Speaker 1: I've done a lot of things, but that was that
Speaker 1: was tough. With Vince McMahon in the room with the
Speaker 1: arms folded and looking at you, and you're like, I
Speaker 1: can't be the guy.
Speaker 2: Nope, nope, Well my god, Well, thank you so much
Speaker 2: for sharing your stories about the nineteen eighty eight Survivor series,
Speaker 2: your first Survivor series.
Speaker 3: You know, I'm thankful this year.
Speaker 2: If you're watching this on Thanksgiving or in the future
Speaker 2: in ten years, you know, I'm thankful for Sean Mooney
Speaker 2: sharing his amazing knowledge here today about the nineteen eighty
Speaker 2: eight Curvibus series. And again, if someone loves this event,
Speaker 2: I hope you enjoyed our show. If you hate this event,
Speaker 2: I hope you enjoyed our show as well. But remember
Speaker 2: Kokobe Whar's ass blurred out with that in your imagination.
Speaker 2: Whose hands were on Rick Rude's ass will never know?
Speaker 2: But thanks for being here on the Golden in a
Speaker 2: podcast for Shaw Mooney. I'm see fall he Shaw Mooney,
Speaker 2: have a wonderful day and we'll see you next time.
Speaker 3: Baba.
Speaker 1: It's the Golden Age. I'll tell me tell you Uie
Speaker 1: rocha then, and I's the fantasy step in the ring
Speaker 3: Till history talk to the Golden tell me to Juie