CarpetCrawler

Looks like we know who to thank for the WALTER name change:

Vince knew that there was going to be a subset of fans that weren't going to like the new direction the WWF was going in. I know the gag is that the masses didn't like Backlund as champ but he absolutely had his fanbase who loved and rooted for him that were very different from the audience that Vince tried to appeal to. There was a small dislike of Hogan, specifically in the Northeast, from this vocal portion of the fanbase who were already half smartened up to the business that didn't think of Hogan as a real and worthy champion. In the coming months, after he takes a little bit of time off outside of spot show stuff, they would film vignettes of Backlund at his home and hanging out with his family and talking about his future plans in the business. He never says it outright, but even in these 1984 promos he says stuff like, "I know I've heard some of my fans don't believe that I ever truly lost that title, and I promise you that I will try to regain it soon." Vince was absolutely doing everything in his power to program Backlund and Hogan against each other. He really wanted the idea of a bitter and jealous Backlund (and now you know where the caricature stuff in 1994 came from) possibly even turning heel over this to challenge Hulk. He felt like Backlund needed to do an actual torch passing to close the book on that era of the WWF. Backlund took one look at Hulk and dismissed him immediately and flat out refused, riding the pine of the rest of his contract until it ran out. When Backlund joined up with Pro Wrestling USA, his first few promos were taking direct shots at the WWF, and especially at Hulk Hogan. "I promise as champion I won't tell the kids out there to not take a pill and then do it behind their back", he was 100% subtweeting () about Hulk and his moral "train, say your prayers, take your vitamins" schtick. EDIT to add: I have heard that story about Backlund too and I do believe there are small kernels of truth to it (in that Vince, in a moment of desperation, proposed that idea to Backlund knowing there was no hope in hell that Backlund would accept it), but it's definitely off base. RE: Eadie. He was definitely considered for the transitional run with the title. As far as I know, it was between him, Sheik, and Ivan Koloff. I have heard the amateur background story but haven't heard enough one way or the other to confirm if it's true or not though.

In some good news for the Network, they have added 1983 MSG shows, including one that had never aired on television before:

Okerlund going "AAAAAUUUUGGGGGHHHHHH" to sell someone getting hit really hard is one of the greatest things ever. Dude fucking ruled. I could watch those 84/85 MSG shows all fucking day.

My two guilty pleasure commentary teams are Gorilla Monsoon with Gene Okerlund, and Dick Graham with Kal Rudman. Both crews shooting the shit about whatever while SD Jones is headlocking Johnny Rodz for ten minutes is comfort food for me, as is when they mark out when the crowd gets hot for something like an atomic drop. So underrated and don't get anywhere near enough love.

Kal ran a publication called Friday Morning Quarterback which at first when it was an underground magazine gained traction because he called the stardom of various performers, including Hall & Oates notably, before anyone else did. After that he gained traction and trust in the industry and was taken in to the industry as a talent scout of future stars, and his track record was incredible, he had a real eye and ear for it. Dude had pull and for good reason, in a seedy industry of sellouts and cynicism he was known as a genuine nice and honest dude that genuinely wanted to see people do well.

Kal's connections to the music industry were considered hugely, hugely invaluable to Sr. but ESPECIALLY to Jr. when he was trying to expand in 1984/85. Kal was the Industry Name that Jr. figured could put out a good word to all his big name industry buddies, and Kal in exchange got to be involved in an industry that he dearly loved as a fan. In fact, the only reason Kal and Dick Graham were taken off of Spectrum broadcasts had something to do with the Spectrum itself. They decided to run shows with the NWA/WCW and it angered Vince so much that he dropped the televised broadcasts, and then kinda phased out the monthly arena show broadcasts a short time later anyway. I often feel like Kal's role with the company was highly, highly underrated in hindsight and by all accounts Vince's friendship with Kal led to the floodgates being opened for celebrity appearances and endorsements of the WWF. There's a strongly likely chance that Kal's influence helped make it easier down the road for Vince to book celebrities for shows, because the trust was there with Kal. If you were in with Kal, you were in.

And from the sounds of it, has ties with Joey Ryan. But he makes fun of Dave so I'm sure he won't lose any support anytime soon.

Funniest things I've found out since making this post: - MeltzerSaidWhat and Meltzer Botches WERE the same guy. AEWBotches is also the same guy. They'd all even talk to each other and reply to each other as if they were different people. - it's a dude extremely upset that he got banned from Dave's board years ago and he's held a grudge ever since.

As far as I know the only existing footage of the Snuka-Valentine match from that card is fancam footage taken from Warner Wolf's WCBS sports recap, which tells me that if it's not even in Peacock's archive, that WWF likely never recorded it. A shame. But at the same time I'm so happy to hear two long considered "lost" MSG shows that were recorded and meant for air are finally out there now in some sort of official form!!

I guess MeltzerSaidWhat needed competition. No idea why we need multiple accounts to post out of context gotcha journalism-esque Dave Meltzer soundbites.

Also the writer that was caught up in a minor shitstorm a few days ago over her podcast appearance where she told the story of flat-out telling WWE she didn't know a thing about wrestling and they hired her anyway.

Had a blast watching this show. The pacing was bizarrely off for a lot of the matches but the Stadium Stampede was the kind of feel good I've been badly needing for the past few weeks with how things have been going in my life. Needed something silly to laugh with and have a good time. Thumbs up for the entire show. Loved the triple threat until the ending and same for Baker-Shida, loved it until the ending.

I went ahead and re-retweeted the tweet I made about it too. It got some traction on the first day but kinda petered off after that. I'd love to see this get funded.

Yeah III isn't well booked persay as it's the first post-George Scott Wrestlemania and the show is *packed* with matches so they had to rush everyone to get their shit in and besides the notable matches like Savage-Steamboat and Hogan-Andre almost everything gets about five minutes. One thing that always blows my mind while watching III is how briskly paced it is.