I guess i worded that poorly. Size was something that ONLY Andre had at the time, until other big men came along and started challenging him. Andre was loaned out to other territories as a Giant, to make money both for himself and the promoters. He definitely felt threatened by guys like Studd and Bam Bam and made sure they didn't take his gimmick.

Funny, you say that because in '83, I'm seeing Andre showing up in territories to put their big men over.

He goes to Mid-South where Kamala body slams and bloodies Andre during a run in. I don't know if they ever even had a match afterwards.

For weeks, Mid-Atlantic was advertising that Andre was coming. Then One Man Gang starts claiming that he ran Andre out of the area. I don't think he ever even showed up.

Speaking of the territories, I might be the last one to learn that Mid-South and World Class were never part of the NWA, yet they still seemed to share talent and recognize the same world champion.

I even just saw Bob Caudle mention that Wahoo McDaniel was coming back to Mid-Atlantic and then throw to Gene Okerland, interviewing Wahoo on AWA programming about going back to Mid-Atlantic.

It's crazy to think there was this era of cooperation among everyone that I never knew about because it seemed to end just before I started watching.

Six months later, Piper and Flair are buddies again. They cut a promo against Harley Race and Greg Valentine together, where Piper introduces his friend Mr. T for the first time: his tire iron.

Over on Mid-South, Marty Lunde has been re-introduced as Arn Anderson. Watts says that Uncle Ole didn't want to give him the family name until he earned it, which he must have done so by losing every single match. He ain't winning any as Arn yet either.

I really enjoyed Reba Mcintyre's rendition of the Star Spangled Banner at WM 8, what a unique voice she has

1st Match Tito vs HBK, great opening match choice

Areba Santana!!!

WM VIII is just forever peak Gorilla/Bobby commentary.

I think the one that I call back to the most is, "What are they saying, are they saying anything? No, just looking at each other. ... Two ugly people looking at each other, that's fun."

Started typing this when I realized it was WM IX and not VIII, but I loved Doink vs Crush, dominated by the latter until the second Doink comes out. Bobby exclaims “It’s an illusion! How did he do that!?” Awful gimmick redeemed by Bobby’s wit.

https://youtu.be/rFTSUR9-2gQ?si=XR0XkX8nyAxVbxCa

Haha, they are def on fire in this event.

Funny thing about that opening match, you can hear a couple of heckling crowd members really clearly both giving **** to Shaun and cheering Tito on.

When Tito knocks Shaun to the floor, the crazed fan is screaming " You got what you deserved Shaun!!!!".

Those kayfabe days were wild

Arn is now wearing a fedora, which...is a look. Still can't win a match.

WM VI main event being face vs. face really did present Jesse Ventura with a unique challenge - hyping a main between two guys who he absolutely loathes in kayfabe - and of course Jesse just ate the challenge up.

Just starting the event now, but after years of bile and hate, there was something really compelling about Jesse declaring "Hulkamania really will live forever" during the postmatch of the main event, and doing so in a way that wouldn't have harmed his heel bona fides in any way (if he hadn't disappeared over a clash with Vince shortly after the event).

Jesse: "You know how I can't miss in Hollywood, Gorilla? I've got Paul Newman's eyes, Kirk Douglas's chin, and Robert Duvall's haircut. How could I lose?"
Gorilla: "But what have you got of your own, Jess?"
<awkward silence>
Jesse: "Now here comes Brutus."

Gorilla ~never got the better of his GOAT-level broadcast partners. That moment always stands out.

I’ve said it before, but the clean near-miss kickout at the end of the match is a criminally underused finish. Give me this at the end of a hard-fought match instead of the 1000s of distraction roll-ups we’ve seen since.

Haha, I somehow never noticed this moment. In the aftermath of Andre turning on Heenan after Heenan slapped him, Heenan gives an interview to Gene Okerlund backstage. Gene catches his tongue mid-word to make it more broadcast appropriate.

Gene: "Bobby Heenan, where do you have the bal -- the nerve to hit Andre The Giant in the face?"
Bobby: "I'll tell you where I got the b -- the nerve to hit Andre in the face."

Just instantly processes Gene's near-flub and incorporates it into his response as a rib. What a king.

Jimmy Snuka is far more popular than anyone in 1983.

He gets disqualified for throwing the referee, but the fans are still going nuts just because he's getting his hands on Muraco.

Part of that is because they're not always brawling on the televised shows, but not a finish you'd get cheered these days.

Wonder why they never gave him the IC strap. I mean, sure, he may have murdered a woman that year, but that's a minor inconvenience to Vince, no?

I'm sure there were no moral qualms about it from Vince, but dealing with court dates is not great for having a belt that is supposed to be headlining B-shows on the house show circuit. We know what happened to Ricky Steamboat's long-built title reign when he wanted paternity leave.

What a great match Bret Hart vs Roddy Piper was at WM 8

Roddy took so many uncharacteristic bumps for Bret, it was a great story and the crowd was super into everything they were doing

Both of their punchs looked great too

One thing that pissed me off about Bret was how often he made nonchalant covers

He made that same mistake in every match and it didnt fit his excellence of execution character at all

9/3/83 episode of Mid-South features the debut of the Road Warriors against Hacksaw Dugan and Magnum TA. They're green, though not as rough on the eyes as Dr. Death Steve Williams still is at this point. This is my first extended look at Magnum TA too.

Another Mid-South debut on this show is Buzz Sawyer, a guy I've never seen or heard anyone say a kind word about, which makes me wonder how he continued to find work and be featured. A returning Paul Ellering does the voice over for his intro video, finally beginning his career as a heel manager, though he's not associated with the Road Warriors or even shown on screen here.

The Junkyard Dog has really done a body transformation in the almost two years of Mid-South I've watched and not in a good way. J.R., who also debuts as lead announcer on this show, has said that JYD started getting lazy at this point and he'll soon be WWF bound.

Also making their debut on this show is a skinny young babyface named Rick Rood, who Bill Watts claims to know nothing about.

How was he in the ring?

Don't know much about him other than he was talked about as being a future star. Not sure if that's more down to him having an elite look for Mid-South.

Yeah, he had a great look for the time and an intensity about him. His ring work was still a bit green for the time, which may be why they hid him in tag matches or maybe it was just the guys he was facing. Tough to have a great match when the young Road Warriors were pounding on you.

Mid-South didn't really let a lot of people talk too often. Only if there was a major match to get across or if you were a known strong talker like DiBiase, so I haven't heard him speak yet.

--
Mid-Atlantic has Harley Race defending the title against Ric Flair on it's 9/10 show. This is the first televised world title match I've witnesses on this show. (World Class has them sometimes). The end result is a heel turn by Bob Orton, who came back to the area about a month or so ago. He took Harley's $25K bounty to put Flair out.

Piper is so furious at Orton, mentioning his little boy (but not by name), that he makes him his personal bodyguard the next year.

The Magnum TA Dark Side of the Ring episode is solid.

Never knew he was Tessa Blanchard’s (Tully’s daughter’s) step-dad.

Two weeks after the spike piledriver from Orton and Slater, Bob Caudle announces that Ric Flair will never wrestle again.



Five and a half years later, Terry Funk would piledrive Flair through a table, setting up their feud.

Time is so weird, the period from Flair winning the title at first Starrcade through Funk piledriving him through the table feels so incredibly long, but it's basically the time period from SummerSlam 2018 (Becky Lynch heel turn) through today.

I was thinking the same exact thing. I can still remember stuff from the Attitude era or NWO like it wasn't near more than 25 years ago now.

Yeah, Steve Austin winning the WWF title at Mania 14 is further in the past now than the creation of the WWF title was in the past when he won it. UGH..

10/1/83 Ric Flair officially announces his retirement.

10/1/83 Ric Flair chases off Slater and Orton with a bat and unretires.

On Mid-South, Nikolai Volkoff attacks and destroys Boris Zhukov for being a fake Russian. They expose their own gimmick that he’s actually American. Yet, Zhukov would remain a gimmick for a number of years, teaming with Volkoff a few years later in WWE.

The Oates brothers debut as a tag team. Marty Oates would become Marty Jannety and create a wrestling angle where he admits to murder.