Pro Wrestling Superstars of the 80s

[wildfire]

I started watching this (its a WWE set from 2005 or so) today while it was slow selling books... I thought it would be fun to comment.

-- It was really fun to see the advertisement for the WM21 DVD....those hollywood skits were great!

-- Totally weird to see clips of Benoit in promotional Material, especially the 'don't try this at home'
spot.

-- Amazing how much blood was in those old matches

-- LOTS of commentary by Brisco and Patterson... wonder what they're up to lately.

-- Weird having Michael Cole as the voice over guy... it's JR mostly these days.

The profiles:

Bobby Heenan
This was my favorite one...very well done. I didn't realize how many guys Heenan managed in WWE. Clips of all sorts of cool stuff.. including WMIII, and Warrior putting him in a Weasel Suit. I think that's what I miss from today's wrestling... fun stuff like that. The only thing today's WWE can come up with is dance-offs, it seems. Choked me up a bit when Heenan talked about how much he working with Gorilla.


Junkyard Dog
A close 2nd to my favorite... especially since I was a big JYD mark as a kid. I had to chuckle when they called 1983 WWF the 'big time' as opposed to the NWA and AWA.
I had no idea JYD got a title shot in WCW in 1990... hoping that match in on the DVD
Also, there was a signifigant clip of JYD performing 'Grab Them Cakes'
Lets see Fandango top that!

Sargent Slaughter
Nothing to exiting here. I did love the clip they showed of him jumping up and down after beating Zbyszko for the AWA Title... very cool. It really makes the wins seem like they mean something that way.

THe DVD claims Sarge was the first guy to use entrance music.. is that true? Seems odd to me.

Also, there was a 'current' clip of Sarge coming out to fight Davari... too bad WWE messed that up, that had real potential as an angle.

Greg Valentine
Definitely the shortest one... showed a weird mix of stuff. No mention of the Hart Foundation, or his IC run.. just feuds with Piper and Santana(which, I know, was over the IC belt, but they didn't mention it), then the Dream Team. He totally made me think of an 80s hair band rocker from a behind the music special... he was definitely not sober for his bits.

Funny part was Flair calling him a 'Consumate Professional'

Roddy Piper
Pretty much a short version of what's on his DVD set, which was kinda sad since I own that, too. Always fun to hear him bash Mr. T though. Sad that PNW got not even a mention.

[Deleted]

Sarge claims to be the first, but so do the Freebirds and Buck Zumhofe. I loved this DVD, the profiles were all really good and there's some pretty good matches on it too. My copy got traded into GameStop back when they took DVDs (for like $13, so I'm not complaining) but I kind of wish I still had it now.

[MT]

Sarge, Freebirds, Jimmy Valiant....Gorgeous George did it decades earlier, and there were apparently wrestlers coming out to music from time to time dating back to the 50s. This is one of those claims people like to make because it is virtually impossible to prove.

I like that DVD set quite a bit, but one of those names is not like the others. I'm not sure how Arn Anderson made the list, but I suspect some degree of politics were played. I like Arn, but I sure wouldn't consider him among the greats of the 80s.

[wildfire]

I was thinking that about Valentine, too... It's really 'Superstars of the 80s that are currently on the WWE payroll'