Tag: Hulk Hogan

Something to wrestle with and my memories of Bret Hart’s 1996-1997

Posted on by anele25

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The land of wrestling podcasts has recently taken over my life. The craze started not too long ago and needless to say, they help when you are washing the dishes, washing the car, or doing laundry. This is beside the point however; I want to cover today a recent podcast done by Bruce Prichard of something to wrestle with fame. The topic for this recent podcast was Bret Hart. If you don’t worry who that is, do not be alarmed you will by the end of this post. My memories of that time are quite extraordinary and full of joy. First, I’ll go through some major points that Bruce Prichard covered and then I’ll give some of my perspective.

 

The podcast does a very good job of painting Bret at this time as someone who could have an excellent match with anyone during that era. He worked with a who’s who of wrestlers. His matches included excellent storytelling, great selling, good flow, and a way of sucking you in so you could believe it. One of those matches was Bret Hart vs Steve Austin from WrestleMania 13. The match did a good job of telling the classic story of the cocky upstart who is being a rebel vs the proud hero who stands by his morals. Hart of course, was the hero who stood by his morals. The fans at the time were clamoring for a change and wanted something new. In storyline, the idea was to do a double turn and have one guy go ‘good’ and another go ‘bad’. Bret at this time was portrayed as being good and Austin as bad. The fans saw how much Austin clawed and scratched to try and win but to no avail. The fans by the end of the match knew that Austin had given it his all in the match and Bret was just being a bully by beating down on a limp body. That is why that match is (by those days), considered a classic. It works because it was believable and it gives credit to the performers that were out there. The match was bloody, full of hard hitting action, and kept you on the edge of your seat. More on these excellent feuds later on. One of my favorite pieces of the podcast included the insights into how the Montreal Screw job came about. The incident famously known as the Montreal Screw job was orchestrated in 1997 as a way to get the belt off Bret Hart so he wouldn’t walk away from the company with the belt.

 

The scenario was in place so that Shawn Michaels (the incumbent champion) and Bret Hart could have a finish even though one person was not clued in. Essentially, the original plan was for the match to end in a disqualification and there would be members of the Hart Foundation (Bret’s group and faction) that would run in and have the match end in controversial fashion. However, at the end of the match Shawn put Bret Hart in his own hold (the sharpshooter, which is where Bret would put his left leg in between his opponents’ two legs and turn the person around and sit on the person’s back until they gave up). The finish of the match saw Bret not give up and the referee rang for the bell. Needless to say, Bret was very upset at the end of this and realized he had been double crossed. After this, he left upset and even had the guts to punch his former boss, Vince McMahon. There has been quite a bit said as to the different scenarios that would have come into place if this situation would not have happened. I also really enjoyed the 1996 portion of this podcast because you also got an insight into Bret taking a leave of absence for his TV shows and to take a break. I also heard the first time that he got a call to come back in 1996 and he flat out said no. It was almost as if Bret needed time to recharge his batteries at time to be with his families. I also learned from this portion of this podcast that Bret was a very smart man when it came to negotiating for his contract and for what he felt was right. At this time, it was rumored that Bret would jump to the rival company, WCW.

 

He would have been one of the members of the newly formed New World Order. The spot that was originally meant for Hart went to one Hulk Hogan. It’s funny because if that would have happened he would not have as a successful run as he did.  Bret however, knew that he still had an opportunity to work with one of the new stars in the WWF in Steve Austin. I remember at this time also that the podcast mentioned on how Bret was always keen on making his opponents look good and how he worked hard to make sure that everything made sense. One of these times where this was true was where Bret did a USA vs Canada angle and he was very successful at having the USA fans hate him. I have gone off the rails a bit and I am going to just cover what I remember from this time period of 1996-1997. It may be bit scattered but for me it is how I remember it. Anyway, getting back to the USA vs Canada angle. I had a sense at the time that what Bret was doing was fairly interesting because he had fans on one side of the border hating his guts. In another country, he had fans still cheering him as their hero. I still vividly remember Bret saying ‘we don’t shoot each other on the streets and we still care for our sick’. Ironically enough, this was done in Canada. Meanwhile, in the USA the fans still hated his guts for being pompous about pimping his home country. It would be as if I went around from country to country and I would be liked or respected only in one or a few. I also remember the summer of 1997 was awesome because this was where Bret Hart famed one of my favorite wrestling stables in the Hart Foundation. Bret Hart essentially went ahead and gathered his family members to start this group. It was composed of four great wrestlers (actually three) in Owen Hart, Davey Boy Smith, and Brian Pillman. The other member was Jim Neidhart. All five men ran roughshod over the federation. The pinnacle of the group came when they ran up against Steve Austin’s team of himself, Goldust, Ken Shamrock, and the Legion of Doom. I still remember this match as being emotional for me because my hero had come back from injury in 1997 after having that great run with Steve Austin. Just to backtrack a bit, Bret Hart had finished his series of matches with Steve Austin (including the classic at WrestleMania 13) and he had run an angle on TV where he was out injured due to some complications with his knee.

 

As he was coming back, I remember this promo Hart was cutting with Shawn Michaels in May of 1997 where Hart was calling Shawn all kinds of names and questioning his manhood. At the time, I was not smart to what was happening and realized that the TV time was running out. As the show was going off the air, I realized that the show did not officially end. Little did I know (according to the podcast with Prichard), Bret forgot the cue and he kept talking. All these later, I still felt that was how the show was supposed to end. Anyway, back to the match where they went up against Steve Austin’s team. The event took place in Canada in Calgary. The crowd that night was electric for the show known as Canadian Stampede. As the match was starting, I was in awe that all these people jammed into one arena to see their fellow countrymen do battle. The Foundation ended up winning after about 20-25 minutes of some hard hitting action. The time during my life at that time was also when my family and I would go to Mexico on vacation. As the time was rapidly approaching for us to leave, Summer slam 1997 was also happening. I remember watching Bret Hart’s championship match against the Undertaker at my mom’s work. Some of these times are priceless as I remember being a little kid and being excited for what was to come next. I think that was one of the magical things about Bret Hart’s 1996-1997 run. I remember after each Bret match, promo, or appearance I would ask myself what was next for the Hitman. One of those that I could remember was when before he left for his hiatus in 1996, he had a one-hour match with Shawn Michaels. The match was famous for going one hour without pinfalls or submissions. I also remember that the match went sudden death and about a minute in, Shawn Michaels was able to get the win with his superkick. After the match, Bret took his time getting back and the cameras followed him back to get his reaction and needless to say he was visibly upset. I know from this incident, I knew from there he was someone who could hook my interest from the beginning of a match or from the end of the match because he made you believe it was real. One of those times where I first got a peak behind the curtain was when the film “Wrestling with Shadows” was released.

 

The film showed us the intricacies of wrestling and how deep his belief went into wrestling. You also saw how much he cared about his family. His immediate family he cared about because you saw that what he grew up was almost like a sport that you had to take into account. If you not have seen the movie, I would highly recommend the film because you see the ins and outs of what it is like to be a wrestler and how one of the best wrestlers ever got to where he was. I’ll leave everything with this as one of my favorite memories of that run in 1996-1997. I remember when Bret had come back in 1996 and Bret came back and said how loyal he was to the WWF and how he wasn’t going anywhere. I was so happy at that time because for one he said he was staying and he also for the first time accepted Steve Austin’s challenge for a match at Survivor Series 1996. The idea for me at that time was that Bret would always be a WWF guy. In 2002, after Bret had officially retired full time from wrestling I wrote a paper about his time in wrestling. I remember I got a decent grade on the paper actually. I also was so happy when Bret Hart returned in 2010 to the now known WWE. He had a memorable run in 1996-97 but I believe here it warmed my heart that he let old wounds heal after the Montreal Screwjob and he was able to show the new generation of fans his skills.

 

Well, there you have it. I just wrote some great memories and some of my favorite times of my favorite wrestler, Bret Hart. Over the next two weeks I will be traveling on some weekends to Los Angeles and then after that I will be having some surgery to heal up some kidney stones. What I want to do for my next blog is include some little journal entries on what these trips were like and I’ll probably write them in my tiny moleskin that I was recently given as a gift. Till next time, everybody be on the lookout!

History of a legend…

Posted on by anele25
He will be missed thanks for the memories!

It’s hard to imagine the phrase “ohh yeah!” without thinking of Randy Savage otherwise known as the “Macho Man”. When I first started wrestling way back in 1993-1994, I caught a glimpse of the Macho Man winding his days down with the WWF and he looked every bit as sharp as he did when I would view his earlier matches back in the 80’s. Last friday, May 21st. he tragically died due to a fatal crash and afterwards having a heart attack. Hearing this news, I was quite saddened that morning hearing this news but throughout the past two days I’ve been thinking about some of hos most epic encounters. I remember growing up hearing about the now famous Wrestlemania 3 match of Ricky Steamboat vs. Randy Savage and I heard stories about it. I heard things ranging from the match lasted 52 minutes and man this match is great you have to watch it, it’s amazing. One day, when I was roaming around Vallco Mall, I went into the now defunct store Suncoast and I went looking for the tape of the match. I searched for it until I found Wrestlemania 3 and I was happy when I got home and I finally saw the match. The match itself was so amazing I nearly dropped my jaw at some of the “spots” that the wrestlers were performing. There was action, drama, suspense, and the way that the near falls were happening made me wonder how difficult wrestling must be. I’ve heard stories after the match had taken place that people were going up to Savage and Steamboat giving them praise for the match. The fact that the match was planned move for move also made me realize that Randy Savage was really a detail kind of guy which made for some other great matches. Watching his mannerisms, his promos, his energy, his wardrobe, and even his magnificent storylines had everything that you wanted in a superstar and a wrestler. What made him unique as a wrestler was also the fact that he had a beautiful manager in Miss Elizabeth, otherwise known as the first lady of wrestling. She has passed away as well but when me and my friend used to rent videos from the local neigborhood video we would watch the awesome storyline that was going on with Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage. The storyline started all the way back when Randy Savage had won the world title in a tournament and Hogan, being the guy he was, helped his pal Savage out and with his help he won the title. But, what was interesting was that Hogan stood in the center of the ring with his manager and hogged the spotlight. Throughout the next year, Hogan and Savage were a formidable tag team and they ran roughshot through the WWF. Eventually, however, jealously reared it’s ugly head and Hogan and Savage started having disputes over the love that Hogan supposedly had for Miss Elizabeth. Now, in hindsight, you would think that a guy that was trying to steal another man’s woman would be the bad guy. But, being that it was wrestling, Savage was the one that was the bad guy. What turned out to be a simple feud ended up being one of the most epic tales ever told. The storyline and the match itself was nothing short of brilliant. The people at the WWF built up as classic good friends better enemies. It was as if both guys in the feud really couldn’t stand each other and of course this being wrestling, the better or stronger man has to come out on top. This is what I believe is missing from today’s product. Randy Savage, being a great villian, made you hate his guts because he had betrayed the ultimate superhero and friend Hulk Hogan. One could argue that Savage would have been nowhere without Hogan in the grand scheme of things but what made that stand out was the pure emotion and the many levels that the storyline brought. You had the question of who Miss Elizabeth was going to side with? Why did Savage betray his friend? Why had Hogan been such a jerk to his friend by trying to take the spotlight from his friend? and also who was right and who was wrong. Knowing the way the feud ended, I recently saw the final battle these two had at Wrestlemania 5 and the match provided the elements I was talking about. I realized that some guys get jealous easily because they feel have the right to do so because they feel that the woman that was once his is now trying to cling onto another man. I also saw how much of a “good guy” vs. “bad guy” feud is simplistic and as easy as it gets. I once heard the big giant Kevin Nash once say that there are only five real feuds in wrestling and to put it into easy terms it doesn’t get any simpler than this. Wrestling is one thing, but being able to translate the story and the drama into that one match is important to captivate that audience and being able to choose a winner. It was like a movie almost where it started out real fast and the heel got the upper hand but of course the good guy made his comeback only to be derailed by the bad guy’s push at or near the end. But, knowing how movies end happily most of the time, the good guy came back and gave the bad guy what he deserved. One thing I’ll never forget is how funny his promos were as well because sometimes he had my sides splitting and I don’t know if it was his voice or the words he used but everytime they were entertaining. They felt real and this is one thing that you can teach other people in wrestling because he had been up and down the road years before he got his big break. R.I.P Macho Man Randy Savage you will be sorely missed. Hopefully, future wrestling or “sports entertainment” fans will be able to see that you were no one trick pony and they will be able to digest the fact that you left a mark on wrestling that will never be forgotten, till next time! Here’s one of the funniest and more memorable promos from the man himself:

Why the same patterns in wrestling always work…

Posted on by anele25

On Thursday afternoon, wondering if I could get wifi in my car, I read something interesting while I was sitting there studying for my Speech 8 midterm while I was able to actually find a connection, and that was in the wrestling organization TNA Hulk Hogan has proposed that TNA will no longer be doing fake story lines and they will be in fact shifting to real story lines. I was kind of taken aback by this because for one, no one will buy and two it’s something that can’t be helped out by the fact that wrestling formality is and always will be what draws people to it for the sake that it’s like a soap opera. Let’s make an analogy here, if on one of my favorite TV shows, The West Wing, they made it known that the original main character, Sam Seaborn, who is played by Rob Lowe, was upset because his role on the show was dwindling and they made that real, it would feel strange and upsetting because I want to know about the character Sam Seaborn and not the actor who actually ended up feeling upset because his role was downgraded to a supporting role instead of a main one. For all intents and purposes, wrestling has always relied on several things to keep it alive which makes it simple and yet still exciting for “hardcore” wrestling fans to tune in. For example, I always joke with my brother Jesus about the oldest tricks in the book in wrestling and it still keeps us entertained, Some of the examples for this would be (but not limited to)

1. The idea of good vs. evil: There have always been two forces in the universe that triumph and that is good and evil, that is the basis for wrestling and it doesn’t get anymore simple than that just watch it and that’s what you get.

2. A battle for pride or “who’s better” series of matches between two competitors: One of the best examples of this is when way back when in the 1980’s Ricky Steamboat and Ric Flair put on one of the best rivalries I’ve seen through matches that just wow’ed me when I viewed them on DVD because they were crisp and the psychology and storytelling put on by both men made me appreciate just how hard these guys have to work in order for the crowd to buy into what they were doing because they were not only working their asses off but they were also trying to show that wrestling can be a sport if it wanted to be.

3. The heel stable against the group of disgruntled babyfaces: I have mixed feelings about this one because it can be really good if executed correctly. The best example of how this may work is with the Hart Foundation in 1997 and the way it happened was awesome because for years Bret Hart was the beloved hero but he ended forming a heel stable because now things were a bit different and people wanted to cheer for the bad guys instead of the typical bland babyfaces. What ended up happening was you got Steve Austin, Shawn Michaels, Undertaker, Mick Foley, The Road Warriors, Dustin Rhodes, and others to form an alliance against this rugged group of individuals. What ended up happening was a U.S. against Canada and for everything for what it was worth it was and is one of my favorite times in wrestling because it showed what life demonstrates sometimes: ideals, righteousness, and the supremacy to see who is number one in the world matters to some.

4. The build up of the chase for the world title babyface: I like this one in part because some really good stories have come out of this one. Several examples include the Steve Austin rise to the top in 1998 when he was facing Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania 14 and he ended up winning, another one is when Sting wrestled Hogan at Starrcade 1997 which was built up with a year’s worth of promos and what not, and another one of personal favorites is when Eddie Guerrero won the championship here in San Francisco from Brock Lesnar which was made even better by the fact that I was there live and I couldn’t have been prouder of one of the little guys that was a great wrestler and he had a great persona.

5. Building up something without the babyface even being on TV: I have seen this numerous times throughout my years of watching wrestling and it seems difficult to execute but once it’s done I feel proud to be a wrestling fan. The master of this is Chris Jericho who feuded with Dean Malenko over a title but in hindsight Malenko was off TV for several weeks which resulted in Jericho insulting him, his family, and even his famous 1000 holds moniker. Looking back even 2 years ago, he had one of my top 10 favorite feuds with Shawn Michaels in which he may have ended his career and for weeks he bragged about it which made the fans even more furious because they wanted to see their hero Shawn return and show Jericho that he was in fact not retired. Michaels did in fact return after being off TV and once he did the crowd just ate it up because he was back for revenge.

Looking at these, I realize wrestling would be impossible to actually have as being real with real storylines. The basis for wrestling is to have it be fake but these guys are athletes that are integrated with storylines that sometimes have real life implications. For example, we always root for the underdog in any situation  which is something wrestling is excellent at because writers and agents want us to feel enthralled in what they do instead of actually seeing the bad guy come out on top all the time. I don’t want to know what goes on behind the scenes, it’s juicy and funny when it they talk about it on TV but too much is overkill and it just makes me think how they can allow these inside things onto a “wrestling” show. Anyway, wrestling will be and always will be using the same formula because without it not many new ideas can be come up with. Have a good afternoon everybody and here’s a demonstration of why I love wrestling( insane heat 101)