That's pretty interesting. I didn't realize they actually got as far as him ever appearing in matches as WWF Champion. It's a shame he never got a singles reign that actually gets acknowledged in the record books. Not even as IC Champ.

Jack Tunney needed some time to deliberate over such an important issue.

But, he did. Ted Dibiase was crowned the North American champion when he entered the WWWF in 1979.

He eventually lost the title to Pat Patterson.


Ted Dibiase defends North American title against Pat Patterson





Not to long afterwards, Patterson took a trip to Rio de Jeneiro where the North American title and South American titles were unified in a tournament. Patterson won the tournament and became the first Intercontinental Champion.


Pat Patterson introduced as first Intercontinental Champion

The first WWF ladder match: Bret Hart defends the Intercontinental title against Shawn Michaels, July 21, 1992.


http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xjz...er-match_sport


Wikipedia

The WWF's second ladder match was the famous match between Shawn Michaels and Razor Ramon at WrestleMania X nearly two years later. (not including at least one "practice" match between Michaels and Razor prior to the WMX match)

Minoru Suzuki vs Hiroshi Tanahashi at NJPW's King of Pro Wrestling 2012

I heard good things about it like that match wining Wrestling Observer Newsletter's MOTY award in 2012. Plus, I'm intrigued on how the pairing would fair with Tanahashi being the top babyface in NJPW against Suzuki (an evil motherf*****).

My first reaction during entrances is that I'm disappointed that Bret walked around the ladder like a pussy instead of pulling a Razor Ramon.

Mr. Fuji's All-Time Best Use of Salt

Mr. Fuji was the master of throwing salt in an opponent's eyes. Most fans probably remember the tactic used against Bret Hart in the main event of WrestleMania IX, allowing Fuji (as manager of Yokozuna) to get his hands on the WWF Championship.

However, Fuji used the tactic regularly in his career. On more than one occasion, it helped him win one of his five WWF tag team championships (three times with Professor Toru Tanaka and twice with Masa Saito). Over his career, Fuji was one-half of the WWF tag team champions a record 952 days (beating Billy Gunn by 16 days and crushing everybody else).

Fuji and Saito won their first tag team championship in October of 1981 and appeared to lose it in June of 1982 to Chief Jay and Jules Strongbow. However, when Jay Strongbow ipinned Mr. Fuji, the referee failed to notice Mr. Fuji's foot on the bottom rope.

As a result, a best 2-out-of-3-falls rematch was held in mid-July.

What follows is one of the great miscarriages of justice in wrestling history.

1972: Andre the Giant vs. Baron Von Raschke (managed by "Pretty Boy" Bobby Heenan)

If you ever wanted to see how well Andre the Giant could move in his younger days, this match is a great example.

Andre almost gets his hands on Bobby Heenan (for the first time?) but the "Pretty Boy" was just barely faster. (A gif from (9:50 to 9:58 would be great)

The Phantom Submission Match

David Sammartino (son of Hall of Famer Bruno Sammartion) vs. Ron Shaw (jobber)
11/22/85- Philadelphia Spectrum

This is a very unique example of a wrestler going into business for himself.

Sammartino lets himself get destroyed by a jobber and then submits to lose a match he was booked to win.

Gorilla Monsoon is doing commentary and is clearly baffled by what has happened.

Quite an offensive arsenal Ron Shaw has.

I was just reading about that Sammartino incident the other day, the first I'd heard of it.

I wonder why they even showed this match. Was that some kind of live syndicated show?

The WWF televised its Philadelphia Spectrum cards on PRISM, the local sports network at the time.

It did the same thing for its Boston Garden cards on NESN.

"Saskatchewan, Alberta, Canada"???

Fort Saskatchewan in Alberta, maybe? Or maybe they were in Lloydminster and got confused.

PRISM wasn't exactly a sports network in Philly. It was a pay channel on cable more along the lines of HBO. The channel was known for two things: 1) It was the channel that showed most of the home games for the Phillies, Flyers, and Sixers. 2) Porn late nights on Friday and Saturday that fell somewhere between Cinemax and hard core.

As for WWF shows, in the early 80's they would show the live on Friday nights. Somewhere around the time of the match above, they moved it to tape delayed the next day on Sat. Afternoon

Non-WWF Matches Shown on WWF All American Wrestling

When WWF All American Wrestling debuted on the USA Network in September of 1983, it had one great feature. It would show matches from most of the other top territories, including the AWA, Mid-South, Florida, World Class, and Mid-Atlantic.

At the time, a Boston-area viewer like myself could only watch the WWF and World Class (and Georgia if you had cable TV with WTBS). So, being able to watch matches from other territories was a real treat.

While the matches are interesting, it's just as much fun watching them introduced by the show's host, Vince McMahon Jr.

The video below has the following matches (sometimes just partial matches).

More than half of the non-jobber talent above would be in the WWF within a couple years. Many old-time fans don't think that's a coincidence. There's a line of thought that Vince was introducing talent to the WWF audience which he intended to "steal". Many would be there in early 1984.

Regardless of what Vince was thinking, it's interesting to know that Hulk Hogan was on WWF TV in the fall of 1983- and Verne Gagne sent Vince the footage. Hogan's official return to the WWF wouldn't happen until January of 1984.

Gorilla Monsoon vs. Baron Mikel Sciculna

Muhammad Ali died.

He was a wrestling fan and got involved in the business a few times including being the guest referee for the main event at the first WrestleMania.

However, this match where he enters the ring and challenges Gorilla Monsoon is my favorite. Ali was in the middle of his second reign as world boxing champion when it happened.





Of course, he was there to promote his upcoming "MMA" match against Antonio Inoki a few weeks later.

I love these historical tidbits you post, Dynasty. I find that I never had any idea about most of them and certainly haven't seen them.

Also it's a weird bit of promotion for the Inoki match for Ali to have just gone in and gotten 100% buried by a wrestler.

Pat Patterson told a story about Ali's involvement in that Mania main event. He was originally scheduled to be the referee but Patterson said the day of the match he wasn't in any condition to get in the ring. That is why Patterson became the ref and Ali was the outside referee. Pat never said what Ali's problem was, but he implied it may have been the beginning of his Parkinson's

Ali is my favorite athlete of all time. His biography by Thomas Hauser is the first book I ever read cover to cover and helped create my love of reading, writing, and boxing. This was in ninth grade.

The fact of the matter is that Ali had a full diagnosis by the Mayo Clinic prior to his bout with Larry Holmes in 1980. In the book it has the official results, where it already said he had abnormal brain activity and slurred speech. He also failed doing the test you see during sobriety testing where you stick your arms straight out parallel to the ground and then try to touch your nose.

Money talks though, and Ali made eight million for the savage beating he took from Holmes, who actually took it a bit easy on him. A little over a year later, Ali would fight again, mercifully, his final bout.

In short, by WrestleMania I, in 1985, he was certainly starting to have his bad days, and can see why Patterson didn't want him in there. I know you said Patterson didn't say why Ali wasn't in any shape to be the main ref that night, but it wasn't drugs or alcohol, so it stands to reason, like you suggested the Parkinson's was getting the better of him that day. Still though, as I think I wrote on my wrap-up, it was good seeing him looking closer to his heyday then the way he looked the last two decades.

Yeah, in no way was Patterson trying to imply he was not sober that day. He was just reluctant to say it was The Parkinson's.

i just watched tully vs. magnum at starcade '85. it was pretty good but had a weird murdery vibe. like halfway through tully is just punching a bloody grounded magnum who refuses to say 'i quit' and he makes expressions like 'do i have to actual kill this person to win the match?'

looking for non-wm13 scsa matches if anyone has some suggestions.

Required SCSA viewing (not in order):

vs. The Rock @ 17
vs. Angle @ SummerSlam 2001
w/HHH vs. Benoit/Jericho on RAW 5/21/01
vs. Bret @ Survivor Series 96
vs. Dude Love @ Over the Edge 1998
vs. HHH @ No Way Out 2001
vs. Benoit on RAW 5/28/01
vs. Benoit on SD! 5/31/01

Only 2 of those not in 2001. Easily his best year and he was WOTY imo.

From Jobber to WresleMania Main Eventer

Shawn Michaels, Mick Foley, and King Kong Bundy have something in common in their careers. They started out as pure enhancement talent and rose all the way to the main event at WreslteMania.

I've also included jobber matches by Jim Duggan and Curt Henning.

1985: Shawn Michaels (jobber) vs. Billy (Jack) Haynes
The ring announcer gets Michaels' name wrong.




1987: Mick Foley (jobber) vs. Kamala
Foley also has his name announced incorrectly.




1981: King Kong Bundy (jobber as Chris Canyon) vs. Tony Atlas
Can Mr. USA press-slam Bundy?




1981: Jim Duggan (jobber) vs. Hulk Hogan
Hogan no-sells the meager offense Duggan can mount.




1983: Curt Hennig (jobber) vs. Ray Stevens
This match is good. Stevens really puts over Hennig despite the match ending as expected.

Just need to say dynasty is killing it ITT