Best Old School Tag Team

[Paratrooper]

So this is the land of dorkdom that everyone keeps talking about. Fake wrestling meets the comic world.

[Stronguy]

So this is the land of dorkdom that everyone keeps talking about. Fake wrestling meets the comic world.

 

I was surprised when I found out who all followed wrestling. Back in the mid-90s I was posting on some bodybuilding usenet groups. They were considered really active and would get 800 - 900 new posts a day. There were doctors, chemists, professional BBer, etc., on there -- this was before the days where every 10 year old got on and trolled everyone.

 

So one day I mentioned the amount of traffic to a friend of mine who also cross posted to some pro wrestling usenet groups. He showed me their stats... 2500 - 5000 posts a day and the groups were populated with doctors, lawyers, corp. execs. The posts were civil, well though out... pretty much a good discussion group. I was impressed because I always though it would be a bunch of trolls and hicks. Not the case.

[bedrockcomics]

I think Ivan Putski and his cousin Igor

[Stronguy]

I think Ivan Putski and his cousin Igor

 

I'm having lunch with Ivan's oldest son today. He and worked together for over 10 years and are good friends.

 

[Ringfinger]

The Polish Power!!

[the blob]

So this is the land of dorkdom that everyone keeps talking about. Fake wrestling meets the comic world.

 

I was surprised when I found out who all followed wrestling. Back in the mid-90s I was posting on some bodybuilding usenet groups. They were considered really active and would get 800 - 900 new posts a day. There were doctors, chemists, professional BBer, etc., on there -- this was before the days where every 10 year old got on and trolled everyone.

 

So one day I mentioned the amount of traffic to a friend of mine who also cross posted to some pro wrestling usenet groups. He showed me their stats... 2500 - 5000 posts a day and the groups were populated with doctors, lawyers, corp. execs. The posts were civil, well though out... pretty much a good discussion group. I was impressed because I always though it would be a bunch of trolls and hicks. Not the case.

 

i have never been to a wrestling match, but i watched a lot of wrestling on TV as a kid from ages 7 - 12 or so on saturday or sunday mornings as that is when they'd show it on the local channels here in the 70s and 80s. once WWF started doing the saturday night smackdown or whatever it was called in the 80's I lost interest. most other boys I knew also watched wrestling like this pretty casually. pretty much everyone i grew up with went to college eventually, grad school...have professional jobs and so on. it was just entertainment on TV when there wasn't much else on. i don't think it brain damages us too much. i didn't have cable TV and the bunny ears antennae only picked up 3 or 4 channels decently. i basically grew up without CBS because in NYC that did not come in well with the bunny ears. the local, non-network, channels always came in best for some reason. so i had a childhood of wrestling and then watching abbot & costello, godzilla and karate movies shown on the local channels if I was in the house and i was pretty much in the house on weekends unless I was outside with my father throwing/hitting a ball.

[the blob]

and my father (a princeton graduate who grew up on Park Avenue (his stepfather was (pulled up by his own bootstraps) rich, he never inherited a dime of it and disinherited my father)) remembered watching Gorgeous George and Man Mountain Dean wrestle back in the 30's and 40's, so it wasn't necessarily a socio-economic thing back then either!

[TheWatcher]

No love for the Von Erichs? World Class may have ended in tragedy, but it was a hell of a ride.

 

I am surprised it got that far into the threas before the Von Erichs were brought up. Did they all die in freakish ways? (I never believed that Kerry Von Erich could really wrestle as he looked like he weighed like 180 pounds soaking wet, but I guess they all had the Von Erich death grip or something). It might be they were more of a mid-west thing (?) as I rarely saw the World Class stuff broadcast in NYC.

 

World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW) was the only game in town here in Dallas. Saturday night... from the beautiful Sportatorium in downtown Dallas.

 

Fritz Von Erich started WCCW and it was pretty successful through the 80s. They had a pretty decent stable of wrestler and got a lot of big names passing through (Bruiser Brody, Andre the Giant, Hulk Hogan, Rick Flair). But the king of the rivalries was between the Von Erichs and the Fabulous Freebirds.

 

Once the Von Erichs started killing themselves off WCCW died. David died in Japan in the mid-80s, Mike killed himself (he's 180 lb beanpole you're thinking about, Blob), Kerry killed himself (rather than go to jail for drug possession) but that was after he went to WWF, Chris (the youngest son who was never a wrestler to begin with) killed himself shortly after Kerry. The only one who is still alive is Kevin. Talk about a tragic story. Fritz had 5 sons and 4 of them died (one, the oldest, was just a little kid) before he did.

 

WCCW revolutionized pro wrestiling by being the first promotion to nationally syndicate its shows, use musical entrances, mike the underside of the mat (so you hear that "boom" when a body hits it), and do multi camera shoots. They, and every other promotion, started dying when their best talent defected to the WWF. The Von Erichs were never good enough to compete with the WWF by themselves. The were very fortunate to have exceptional heels: Freebirds, Gino Hernandez, Rick Rude, Jake the Snake, Jimmy Garvin, etc. The Von Erichs weren't particularly good wrestlers, which is okay, but they also weren't particularly good personalities. Hulk Hogan can't wrestle worth a damn, but he can work a crowd and is great on camera. Add to that the family tragedies and the die was cast.

[chrisco37]

i have never been to a wrestling match, but i watched a lot of wrestling on TV as a kid from ages 7 - 12 or so on saturday or sunday mornings as that is when they'd show it on the local channels here in the 70s and 80s. once WWF started doing the saturday night smackdown or whatever it was called in the 80's I lost interest.

 

Same time frame/experience as me.

 

However, I did attend one wrestling event. My uncle and two cousins were way big into it for the longest time. A few years back (probably around 01-02) they asked me if I wanted ot go to a Smackdown or Raw (one of those, it was WWE). I said, "what the heck". I had a frikkin' blast. It was hilarious. I'd highly recommend attending just one time in your life.

 

The fans go nuts and really get into it. It certainly was worth the price of admission.

[bullseye]

I grew up on the hart foundation, the four horsemen, and the midnight express. I guess the first two are stables more so than tag teams, but I mean specifically, bret and anvil, ric flair and sting.