Old Wrestling School (The Territories , NWA/WCW , ECW , AWA etc)

[DanMad1977]

Thanks for sharing these stories. Especially the Severn and Road Warriors story.

Severn was a legit fighter, he would have caused a lot of trouble going for a real fight.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Chris Jericho details the Mickey Roarke match that never was...at Wrestlemania 25.




- Jericho brings up that Mickey Roarke had called him out during a RAW. Someone told Chris about it and he quickly watched it and later learned from Vince what the plans was. Mickey Roarke was gonna wrestle him at Wrestlemania 25. The match was gonna be a special attraction match basically. But Chris thought with Mickey coming off The Wrestler and he had some training , more work with him could make it really good.


- But then as Roarke seemed ready to move ahead with it , his manager and people warned Roarke that as he was up for an Oscar the academy may not be happy. Seeing him working in WWE at a show and hold it against him. So Roarke pulled out which irked Jericho. But Vince is always thinking of a plan.


- So Vince devised an idea where , ala the Wrestler we take legends holding on too long. So he told Chris that he had Roddy Piper , Greg "The Hammer" Valentine and Jimmy Snuka would be facing him. Chris told Vince given the age of the guys and how Roddy really couldn't move much due to his hip and the other 2 really being older the match would stink. Vince admitted it would but the match would be an attraction match.


- Jericho however pitched ideas to Vince like , hey lets remove Valentine since he's the smallest of the names and put Jerry Lawler in it. In Vince's mind however he wanted guys who worked Wrestlemania 1 and were WWE Hall of Famers. So Jericho being smart saw Ricky Steamboat and pitched him. Steamboat was receptive to the idea but a question on if he owned his name came up. Steamboat did and it saved the match. Also the spots with Steamboat was so well received he ended up wrestling 5-6 more times.


- Post match they did include Flair and Roarke in a spot.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMa8qj65swI

[SUPERECWFAN1]

So in a wild comical deal Jake Roberts (The Snake) ; detailed issues he had. Cornette's cohost read what Jake said in a rant about Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels.


- Roberts told that both Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart were the worst WWF Champions of all time. That both men weren't believable as champion and business sucked for both. Also the two men were busy fighting about getting Sunny's P--- as shown. Plus Jake claims that no way was both believable as champion next to Andre the Giant.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuhldETa1gs


- Cornette is stunned at hearing all this and does laugh over the fighting over Sunny's p--- line. But as Cornette claims both men were very good wrestlers. That he'd be lying if he didn't say Shawn didn't have talent and he could work really great in ring. Both had decent size too as well as Shawn was billed at being 215-220 at one point in his career.

- Jim brings up how Roberts is by passing a lot of people calling them the worst champions. Hell as Cornette brings up Kevin Nash should make the list since that run cost the company tons of money. Then there was years later they even made Miz a World Champion. How could he be serious and say this.

- Jim also reveals that Jake Roberts was on the WWF Booking committee when he returned for like 4 months. That Jake really did it for the extra money and would pitch some out there things but never took notes and really pushed at it. Also he didn't ever speak up when Shawn was champion because Vince likely wouldn't have listened to him either if he did have a gripe with it.


- Also as Jim jokes at the end Bret and Shawn was fighting about everything including that about Sunny. But he doesn't agree with this.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

On his podcast last year Jim Ross and Conrad Thompson discussed a story of 1990 WCW where Lex Luger declined getting the WCW World title in Feb. as Sting was out.


- Conrad reads that Luger was asked if he would become WCW World Champion and beat Flair in Feb. 1990. But Lex turned it down then because he felt he wasn't ready yet. Jim Ross backs it up that Luger did turn down winning the belt and that was a key reason. He felt he wasn't there yet to be World Champion. Also it could have been smart business by Lex because the only real main event heel the company had was Flair. So he would be the best money feud awhile then they didn't have anyone else ready.


- Jim Ross puts over that this was a smart move by Lex . Plus the fact the company had Sting months away from returning to be champion. That Flair was gonna put over Sting and he would have done it for Lex at a better time n place.


- Ross brings up how weird this era is because they had guys like Steve Williams , Scott Steiner , Rick Steiner etc. But they didn't do a good job building main event depth then. That no one in the company thought of it and this happens.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhw_tnvDeDM&t=439s

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Kevin Steen (Owens) a few years ago in his shoot discussed a comical situation where he was in CZW.


- As Steen starts off he was working in CZW and was the CZW Iron Man Champion at the time. Steen had wanted to work a Tournament of Death Match against John Zandig as his friends loved Zandig with what he did in ring. Steen told them he'd do barbed wire , chairs etc against Zandig because he so wanted this match. But CZW came back and told him that the only way he could face Zandig was in a 3 way tag team match in a cage with 9 men.


- Steen had kept that date open for the show as well before learning what CZW wanted. Around this time he learned PWG was looking at friends of his and he too wanted to work some shows for Dragon Gate so he sent them a tape of himself. They lined him up for October and November. Well he was gonna do a month in Europe in September so he informed Zandig at the show that August of what he planned ahead and he would gladly drop the title to him or anyone in that cage since he didn't think they'd want him to keep the title til December when he could return to CZW.


- Zandig wasn't happy and goes FINE ...and tells Steen that Generico will be the champion then. Steen is like...he's on my team. Generico is smoking (which as Steen claims is rare) and he goes , no ...no I don't want that belt. Since he too was leaving after this for something else. Well Zandig's son is wrestling later on the card and Zandig starts discussing his match with DJ Hyde. So as Generico is sitting smoking and to f-ck with Zandig comically he goes , 'Where does this happen in our match tonight ?" Which Zandig is like F--K THE MATCH ! And yells that its his son's match later.


- Genericho is like Yeeeah f-ck this match ! So it gets more comical as Zandig reveals his son will get hurt in his match and he's gonna go to hospital with him. So Steen is like , oh yeah so your gonna come back for the big save right at the end ? Nope... f-ck this match as Zandig tells him and he plans to be gone. In his place is Eddie Kingston. Anyhow Steen is like , he's in Blackout who were facing in the cage on the other team !

Zandig goes , no tonight we will run an angle where he gets kicked outta the group earlier then comes out as the 3rd member of this group. Steen realizes that Zandig has never said who will pin him for the belt .


- So Steen brings up he really liked LuFisto as he saw her away from them backstage. He knows she really liked what he did and he doesn't want to take away from the moment of her winning this. Because he felt she really was becoming a star in CZW so why not. He looks at Zandig and proposes that LuFisto somehow he gets in the match and pins him for the Iron Man Championship. A woman beating a man for that title. He wanted to see how insane Zandig was as a booker to propose it.

"I f-cking love it !" - Zandig as Steen is even stunned. So Steen tells her she's gonna be Iron Man Champion tonight.


- The Match itself was pure chaos as expected. At one point Steen claims everyone else was going at it working as he decided to comically walk around for a couple minutes drinking water at ringside. Til Kingston saw him finally and they went at it. Lufisto got him alone in middle of the ring and won the belt.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwLpL8nFsBM

[SUPERECWFAN1]

CM Punk discussed the infamous Tony Atlas incident which got him some heat at the time.

- Punk details that he was ECW World Champion and was told by WWE that he no longer had to work any OVW dates and could basically live wherever he wanted. As he became a main roster star. Punk however still loved watching the matches and would go hang out backstage at OVW.


- It was there that Punk said his friend Joey Mercury came up to him and said he was getting ready to sign a TNA contract to leave. And that he really wanted to have 1 final match with him. So Punk went to Danny Davis and brought it up for a dark match. Davis was open to it and told Punk whatever he wanted to do was fine by him. So soon Punk and Mercury have added all their friends to this 4 on 4 match for fun. It was basically a group of guys wanting to have some fun and work together.



- Backstage Punk is putting on his ring gear and starts to tape his arms like he normally would and the X's to mark STRAIGHT EDGE. In walks Tony Atlas as Punk respects him by saying , "Hey I'm Phil , Mr. Atlas..." Its there Atlas stares puzzled at his tape on his arms and keeps asking whats the deal and how it looks like he has 2 broken arms. Punk explains its what he does and X's are for straight edge. Which again goes past Atlas who keeps harping on it and finally tells him , how you expect to ever get a call up if you don't listen to your coaches .


- Punk is mystified. Because right in his bag in plain sight is the ECW World title. So Punk is respectful and jokes maybe this is how he is because he literally if you watch MTV you saw Atlas hide money from himself and have women step on his face. But the match goes off GREAT. It plays off the current angles , everyone goes home happy. It does great business and the faces go over as expected and everything is great. And as he tells the audience , like Dante from Clerks ...I'm not supposed to be here.


- Post show everyone is in bleachers discussing the show as Punk is half zoned out as their discussing OVW TV and what they can do next time. Then suddenly up walks Tony Atlas who claims it was all nice , except for one person. And that person is AN AAAASSSHOOOLEE. He is like , wow that is harsh as he's looking around puzzled.


- Punk claims he'd start talking to the class about things , then go off on weird tangents on how he once bench pressed more than Hogan and actually legit beat Hulk Hogan up for no reason. Then he yells how everyone was good except for that Assssshoooolee....as Mercury nudges Punk who isn't paying attention to this. Its then he realizes Atlas is eyeing him.


- By now Punk's getting steamed at the repeated deal where Atlas is gonna turn in reports on everyone except that asssshoooolee. Punk is like f-ck you and he puts to rest the whole , do you know who I am. Punk claims he told Atlas he didn't know who anyone is . That he's not in OVW and that he's on main roster and these guys are still here. Then Punk tells Atlas how he's not there to coach anyone just tell everyone to not do drugs or screw up losing all the money.


- Punk quickly tells audience this was 10 years ago and him n Atlas talked things over and are good. That they hugged it out but then he was steamed as hell. Comically Atlas told Punk he'd never make it to TV and Punk yelled back , I'm on TV ! He questioned why he was being attacked because he just wanted to help these guys in a dark match.


- Later Punk claims that those politically plotting to ruin him couldn't wait to tell Vince. That Nova and Al went to tell as he was told , you best talk to Undertaker. Punk was like , why the hell would I speak to Undertaker ? Tony Atlas attacked me there. The comical part was Johnny Ace questions Punk and remarks , I got Tony Atlas on Tarmac in Florida and he wants paid. CM Punk is like , what the hell does it gotta do with me if he gets paid or not ?

Ace explains he's supposed to go to FCW and is worried some kid will yell at him there. So Punk has to explain what happened . Then even later in locker room someone ran and told Undertaker . It was someone on main roster who didn't like him. As they were Punk shared a laugh with Undertaker over the good stories he heard lately. Whoever did it thought Undertaker would get him fired which didn't happen. (same person tried to get Punk fired 2-3 times he claims).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDF7uDR_8TM

[BigLbo]

the story would've been better if it ended with atlas beating up punk.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

the story would've been better if it ended with atlas beating up punk.

Nah the story was perfect for the ending of Ace calling Punk up and saying , "I got Tony Atlas on the Tarmac in Florida and he wants paid..." and Punk is like WTF does that gotta do with me. And how Ace details he's scared some kid will yell at him in FCW. I laughed at that part and Punk has to explain to each person what happened. And how someone on main roster didn't like him so wanted to use it to get him fired as usual.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

In the VICE special about New Jack one incident that wasn't mentioned and I didn't even know about happened in 2012. This one was one brought up in a shoot interview with Hannibal to New Jack.


-

- In it New Jack was backstage after a show in Florida . After the show Brian Knobbs (Nasty Boys) came backstage and was chatting with the boys there as New Jack claims he was texting a friend. He wasn't paying attention to really what Knobbs was talking about to everyone. As he started to laugh about something Knobbs insulted him claiming he couldn't wrestle. Then he said once or twice more.


- New Jack claims he removed his rings and set his phone down. Then walked over and started beating up Brian Knobbs for the insult. That he taught Knobbs a lesson for that . New Jack told this story years earlier as well if you search Youtube as it happened in 2012.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZBMeoqa8g4

[GozertheGozarian]

Knobbs saying someone can't wrestle is hilarious. The Nasty Boys were garbage in the ring.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Knobbs saying someone can't wrestle is hilarious. The Nasty Boys were garbage in the ring.

If you pull up a clip from 2012 on youtube , Jack makes that very same claim. That the guy was getting blown up walking to the damn ring in TNA. That he wasn't good in WCW either. That if he's not a good wrestler neither is him or Saggs.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Vince Russo who has done plenty of shoots discussed the departures of Bobby Heenan and Mark Madden. In it he defended himself on these 2...


- Russo claims when he took over WCW creative that there was a huge , HUGE push inside there to remove Bobby Heenan. That in creative people would keep proposing he remove Heenan as an announcer and get rid of him. Russo details he would see the Bobby Heenan we all saw. The guy who could get heel heat in a suit and cut great promos and thought , no way is that happening ! That he'd fight them tooth and nail on replacing Heenan as an announcer.


- But then came the 2000 Souled Out situation where he pushed out of the company. Within a week after his exit Russo claimed Heenan was gone from Nitro. That he was replaced by Mark Madden and he had nothing to do with it. That he was out of the company. (Time line adds up...Russo was out of company in January 2000 due to the PPV issue , he is right).


- For years Heenan blamed him for this as people told him Russo did it. But Russo in this shoot would plead with people and Heenan to look at the time line. He was pushed out and had fought for Heenan for weeks as part of WCW creative. To keep him there. By the time he came back Mark Madden was now the announcer.


- Russo claims that Mike Teney invited Heenan to a TNA taping and while there he got to speak to him.


- Russo claims he backed Madden because he was the announcer now and he got along with him work wise. That he never had a bad thing to say about him and years later he starts getting blasted by the guy in columns etc . That its mind boggling now to see.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIED4JFShCQ

[SUPERECWFAN1]

The Insane Clown Posse has been wrestling as a team and doing their own company (JCW) to go along with their music careers. In the 2000's John Tenta (Earthquake) shot on them and claimed how they had an attitude and didn't agree with anything the company did. That they helped end the Oddities as a group in WWF in 1997.


- ICP learn about what was said and both are sad by this. That they seemingly had no issues with Tenta and they bring up how it was for them in the WWF then. They weren't wrestlers , they were a hip hop group. That the whole WWF thing was to try and sell records. That they would get presented with an idea , bring up an idea as well and still do what the WWF asked them to do.


- Violent J and Shaggy claim what ended their work in WWF was that , the company kept promising that they would promote their upcoming album and for weeks kept stringing them along. That they would go to Russo and question when they were gonna promote the album and after being told for weeks they would...their manager told them to walk. That they weren't being paid enough anyway to do this (they claimed they made $500 an appearance) and they had to think of their families as musicians 1st so it ended it.


- But people may have thought they were terrible needing a dressing room , but they needed a sink to apply their makeup. This wasn't meant to be ego thing , they just had to get ready to go out to work. They did admit their final appearance had them get stunned by Steve Austin which as a fan is kinda cool.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRWh09dKwqk

[BigLbo]

Nah the story was perfect for the ending of Ace calling Punk up and saying , "I got Tony Atlas on the Tarmac in Florida and he wants paid..." and Punk is like WTF does that gotta do with me. And how Ace details he's scared some kid will yell at him in FCW. I laughed at that part and Punk has to explain to each person what happened. And how someone on main roster didn't like him so wanted to use it to get him fired as usual.

that's slightly humorous at best, if atlas had beat up punk it would've been hilarious.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

The Young Bucks discussed their signing with TNA and how it came about...


- Matt and Nick had been working awhile and was pretty excited that a company was looking at them. They did a try out dark match with Motor City Machine Guns and everyone liked it. They liked it so much that they were offered contracts right after it. The contracts weren't so good but they were told , hey Hulk Hogan is coming in and were thinking of going to Monday Nights. Things are about to get big and we could in 6 months rip those contracts up and give you better ones. So they signed.


- Days before they were to work the debut on TV , Russo called and told them he wanted them to be a near Hardy Boys look but not the Hardy's which is confusing. Both weren't into it but drove to a mall and bought some pants and stuff from Hot Topic. They took the gear and their Young Bucks gear to the show and the producers looked it over. Both were comically begging to themselves that they'd get to wear YB gear but were told that the pants they picked from Hot Topic would do. Russo wanted them to get hair cuts and they hated that part. Both admitted they should have set down with Russo and discussed what their characters would be going forward.


- Things were ok to start then Bischoff came in and he seemed standoffish in ways. That they really didn't know how to take him at 1st. It wasn't til Bischoff did the Reaction show and got to know them that they really spoke to him and he got to know them better. He'd even throw out an idea of an empty arena match between them and MCMG which all of them loved.

- During a spot in Bischoff's rant on an episode of Impact , he ripped into X-Division guys. Claiming they were vanilla midgets. Matt and Nick claimed they had felt some realness in this and convinced Red to flip off Bischoff. Which normally would be risky since no one knew it was coming. But Red did it and backstage Bischoff loved it and praised how real it was. That it was what he wanted.

- The X-Division deal became a source of highs and lows. Spanky (Brian Kendrick) would speak up a lot. The X-Division guys went weeks without being on TV or getting house shows. Which pissed them all off. Jay Lethal , Kendrick , them etc all were not happy and Kendrick as they claimed planned to have people sit the 1st match of a PPV out til things changed. But they decided against that move and instead spoke up to Russo in a group. Russo told them there was so much talent in the company.

Russo a couple weeks later wrote that into the show and then comically later , one by one they were all phased out it seems. Lethal was the 1st to be let go and then next was Spanky. They also all got squashed in a funny deal as well.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHSTdwpT9BI