Jim Cornette on What If Dusty Rhodes Had Won The Championship In The Garden
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- čas přidán 30. 04. 2022
- From Episode 429 of the Jim Cornette Experience
Artwork by Travis Heckel!
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Yo Jim Cornette one of the best promos ever against Dusty "When your daddy is out plumbing, every man in Austin knows what his bedroom looks like" lmfao.
That's hard times ⏲ 🤣 😂
😆
“Superstar” Billy Graham vs Dusty Rhodes was a monumental feud
Was at their first match at the garden
@@chazinnyc legendary night.
Their rivalry in Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF) laid The Groundwork for The Trilogy of Matches they did in The WWWF.
Those three matches in the garden were three of the best matches I've watched as far as excitement and interest. I mean it was just amazing.
Or was it just 2. See I can't even remember they were so awesome. Lol
I love Cornette, but props to Brian for defending Backlund’s reputation. The narrative of him not being over or a draw seems to be a bit of revisionist history….mostly by people who were not at the WWF arenas from 78-83, read about it, or weren’t even into wrestling yet. Obviously this does not apply to Jim lol. I have big respect for him and his knowledge.
Let’s look at Backlund’s major runs…1978, all return matches with Graham, and who else did they feed him? Luke Graham, Bulldog Brower, Spiros Arion, Animal Steele, and maybe Stasiak….does anyone think Dusty would have sold out MSG or The Spectrum against any of those guys except Graham? That would be no.
1979 saw Backlund have a historic 4 match run at MSG with Pat Patterson, a 3 match MSG run feud with Peter Maivia, Greg Valentine, Bob Duncum, Koloff, Hussein Arab(Iron Shiek)and a few lesser oppnents(insert a Valiant Brother, etc). All of those major defenses also ran in all of the major arenas in the northeast….and no Bruno or Andre in 1978 or 79. To claim Backlund needed undercard support at this time is absurd…having a tag title match or Strongbow feuding with Valentine on the same night is hardly “stacking the card”.
1980 starts out with major runs with Backlund vs Patera, Hogan, Slaughter, Race, Zbyzsko, Kahn….and then a bunch of underwhelming defenses against various Samoans, The Hangman, etc. Again, is anyone going to sell out MSG in a WWF title defense against Samoan Afa? No. This was the first year that Andre and Bruno were on undercards in runs with Hogan and Zbyzsko respectively. Is it stacking a card to have a feud running in a territory simultaneous with a championship match? When Flair was NWA champ in the early 80s, you had Rich vs Sawyer, Wrestling II vs Masked Superstar, all kinds of Freebirds, Road Warriors, Midnight Express tag feuds on the same card at The Omni….it wasn’t a Flair, Race or Dusty title match and a card full of jobbers. Why does Backlund get singled out on this?
1981 you had Backlund in runs with Hansen(3 MSG matches), Muraco, multiple Valentine matches, and more lesser opponents like Mosca, Steele again, etc. Bruno is basically gone, having finished his run with Zbyzsko in 1980, Andre has a run this year with Kahn, and Patterson runs with Mosca and Patterson this year. Muraco/Morales have their feud, and the typical tag match title runs with Moondogs/Martel and Garea. Not a lot of card stacking going on unless you think Backlund vs Mosca should sell out MSG on its own, which is ludicrous no matter who the champion is.
1982 into 1983 again saw no Andre in the area except for a run with Studd in 83. No Bruno. So so much for the idea that those two were always supporting weak Backlund draws. They were not around for the majority of the Backlund title reign.
In these final two years of Backlund, he had major runs with Snuka, Graham, Slaughter, Muraco, Studd, Valentine, and minor runs with the likes of Adonis, Ventura, Steele, Koloff, Buddy Rose, Masked Superstar, Bob Orton, Iron Mike Sharpe, and ultimately Iron Sheik.
Most of these were return visits that people has seen multiple times already, the most exciting new run was the Snuka one. Backlund crying on TV when Graham destroyed his belt, the singlet (Cornette saying it made him look like he was 12! True! 😂)the over the top excitement Snuka brought in, and an epidemic of Backlund getting fast counts on opponents especially in his last year and a half(done on purpose to turn fans against him? This is when I started to notice the boos at house shows)…all of this led to the end of his run. It was time. But he was a major hero of mine as a kid, and he WAS over, especially in those first 4 years. His runs with Patera, Hansen, Patterson, Muraco, Valentine stand up to any title run in any other territory hands down. And the fact that he would not hurt his daughter or me as a young fan by turning heel says a lot about his character.
I think Graham would have made a great babyface champ but was too unreliable. A short run would have been the real Hulkamania IMO. Dusty would also have totally owned it for a short run…but again, if you fed him sub par opponents, he would not sell out MSG on his own either.
@Tom Stewart, Dusty wouldn't have been as popular as Bruno was at MSG back then.
In 1982 there was a "Worlds Collide" Double Countout at The Omni between NWA Champ Ric Flair and WWWF Champ Bob Backlund where each man was allowed to keep his respective title.🤔🎤🐴💎🤼♂️B.W.
Dusty would have never made a long run champion like backlan or Bruno or Ric flair. Dusty Rose was there to take the title off of people to sell tickets to watch him defend the belt and he always lost it. But Dusty Rose was never a wwwf wrestler he was with the NWA at the time when the www.f was affiliated with NWA so they never would have put that wwwf title on him they put the tag team belt on them for a quick hot second when he was NWA champion but other than that they never would have let him walked out of there with that belt! He did better selling out arenas with Ric flair and Harley race and so on but again like you said it wasn't only them selling out the arenas people actually went to the Omni or other arenas to watch the road warriors midnight Express the Russians and The four horsemen Kelly Blanchard Anderson and again so on and so on no one man outsells stadiums even Bruno Tarantino bragging about how he sold out arenas no it was the rest of the card too that people went to see think about it when they said Pedro Morales was the champion and they had all the Puerto Rican people in New York going to see him so you're telling me that they could have done the same job with Johnny rods? Put the intercontinental title on him or the world championship? Bob back when had good matches I watched them all every first Thursday of the month from MSG I watched them and they did start getting kind of fast at the end. But that was because it was Vince Jr who took over and then Senior is the one who liked Bob backlund as champion so Vince Jr decided to get rid of Bob backlund and go for hulk Hogan who I believe a year or two ago before that was fighting Bob backlin for the world title when he was with Freddie blasty
Excellent synopsis and opinion
Jesus dude learn to be concise
Backlund's 94 heel run was lightning in a bottle and the Fed had no idea. What a brilliant story:
A previous world champion who has been forgotten returns and demands respect. He *looks* like a nobody but he's a legit badass who could have tied up anybody on the 94 roster like a pretzel. Points out he never lost and demands his respect from the perfectly-timed New Generation. The bodyscissored chickenwing was the most over submission at the time. He might be "old" but give him half a chance and it's over.
Could have and should have been brilliant but they went goofy on it.
Backlund 100% should’ve kept the title at least until the Royal Rumble. He was that over and believable.
Psycho Backlund was great.
I wasn't happy because Bret was my Guy. That's when I most disliked Jerry The King Lawler because he was messing with Bret The Hitman Hart!
Brets body looked lifeless in Survivor Series 93’ after being in the Wing long enough lol what a great seller
Damn man they shoulda had you bookin on that back then 😂😄💪👍💯
This is a thousand times better than talking about modern wrestling. And a billion times better than any politics.
Jim is another person when he's talking about old wrestling or other wrestling details like the ring rope video they just put out
@@CZcamssDead yeah he's too liberal for me
@@CZcamssDead Yep I turn it off every time. Stick with wrestling
@Trip Vic cool story lady
I find his brutal bluntness refreshing. His views are wonderful.
“As bland as non-sugared oatmeal” that is such an amazing line.
I was too young to see Backlund's OG title run. When I started watching wrestling as a kid was just before or right after Wrestlemania IV, but I LOVED the Mr. Backlund gimmick when it came along. I remember just smiling, laughing, and yelling "Chickenwing him, Bob!!!"
Backlund WWF run started after Bret beat Yoko for the title at WMX… kuz he took the title off of Bret, n lost it to diesel
Love Travis's attention to detail with Dusty's splotch.The only thing missing would be the scar tissue/broken blood vessels on the Dream's upper right arm.
35 minutes on Dusty? This will be good. I looking forward to numerous Dusty impersonations, if you will.
15 minutes on Dusty, 10 minutes on Backlund and 10 minutes on Codecademy.
@@JoeMercersWay that's a good mix.
We're making movies and sitcoms baby....
Brian gets it. The economy stunk pretty much Backlund's entire title run. He still drew and was still over. The act might have gotten tired the last year or so but crowds were wanting something different. Chief Jay was getting tired late too and those guys were pillars for a while.
Backlund certainly "did not draw" and of course was NEVER as over as Pedro, Bruno, nor even heel Superstar that all preceeded him.
@@yoholmes273 What do you mean? It was clearly Bob Backlund that drew the Shea Stadium crowd and not Bruno vs Larry. How can you question UFO News Network Sunday...............................................
@@handsolo1209 Bob Backlund drew....is a hilarious statement.
L
@@yoholmes273 Yeah I'm going to go with Cornette's opinion on this one.
29:00 Discussion on who could have beaten Backlund, besides the Iron Shiek...Nikolai Volkoff. USSR 1984
According to Dustys book he says that when Vince Snr was ill before he died dusty would call vince snr on the regular to check in with him and on this day Vince snr had deterioted so dusty spoke to vince then vinces wife got on the phone and explained vince was really ill then vince gets back on the phone and says .."U can stop him Dusty you have the power to stop it" then hung up ...Dusty believed he was referring to vince junior and his plan to go national and take over...I think this conversation got back to vince junior and he had resentment to Dusty and thats why he called Ted Dibiases valet Virgil which is dustys real name and when dusty came back in the early 90s he put the polka dots on him..Vince Snr died a couple of days after that phone call
found rybacks CZcams account
@@SuperUnhappyman and this gives u power ..over me ? ...I recently signed upto Audible and listened to Dustys and Terry Funks Audiobooks over the weekend
The resentment over Dusty was due to him being the booker of Crockett in the mid-1980s. At the time of Vince Sr's death, he had no particular power in the industry and was certainly not in a position where he was going to stop the WWE's expansion.
I also kind of doubt the story in that Sr. was opposed to the expansion.
I don't believe it. Dusty had no power back then.
The only people that know if it's true are dead.
It might have been added to the book to get people interested.
@@footguy215 according to both Dustys and Terry funks books ..Vince snr would always fly in for the NWA promoter meetings even when the WWWF wasn't apart of the NWA he still kept good relations with all the NWA higher ups this is how they was able to do champion vs champion with Bruno vs Harley Race Dusty vs Superstar Billy Graham..so it seems Vince Snr did have respect for the territory system and the NWA...also Gary Hart speaks about this in his book and he tells a story of Vince Snr ringing I believe it was Jim Barnett and telling him what Junior was upto ..Dusty doesn't say alot apart from what I've already said and he also specify Senior didn't actually reference Junior directly but Dusty assumed he ment the national takeover as the rumours were already flying round and moves were been made ..so who knows ..but Vince snr did bring Dusty in as the NWA champ and he beat Superstar Billy Graham in the Garden by countout and Dusty held the WWWF belt up until the ref told him the belt doesn't change hands on a count out ..thats the photo cody used on Raw..now for Vince Snr to allow the NWA champ to stand tall in the garden even for a few minutes with his belt shows how much respect Senior had for Dusty and the NWA
Backlund vs Dusty in Japan was a phenomenal match
Yup, Japan had lots of great matches!
Dick Murdoch vs Karl Kox was insane!
Backlund had so many great feuds and matches: Sgt Slaughter, Ken Patera, Hulk Hogan, Ivan Koloff, Killer Khan, Adrian Adonis, Greg Valentine, Antonio Inoki. Bob was great!
A Backlund/Patera Texas Death Match watch-along would be warranted
Well which is it? Some or many??..
And Bret Hart too!!
@@tobiasfarragut292 ha ha both! It’s all a matter of opinion
@@televiper11 from the looks of it, its all a matter of Editing….🧐
Would be great if you guys did "What If segments" and how they would have effected wrestling forever
What if? The third man was Bret?
We don't get those 2 Hart - Austin Matches.
That's the wrinkle in time.
Bret would have been a huge shock at the Bash.
But then Hogan would come back and Creatively Control his Narrative.
Book Himself vs all the nWo in a 4 ring cage match on top of the Joe.
Plenty to cover and talk about with these segments. What if Owen didn't pass away? What if Benoit never murdered his family? What if Vince went with Bret instead of Shawn? What if Austin never went to WWF? What if Austin never injured his neck? What if HBK went to WCW? What if WCW won the Monday Night Wars? What if ECW was still around? What if Jim stayed with OVW and they continued working with WWE...besides Jim losing mind? One of Jim's favorites - What if Vince Russo was never in the wrestling business? What if Vince was able to pick up Ric Flair instead of Hogan? Sooooo much could be covered.
Perfect segment on weeks where there’s not much to talk about or if questions suck on the drive-through
@@viqneuman.5111 if the third man was Bret, the nWo would have flopped, and been over before 1996 was done.
@@danielburger1775 Didn't read the rest of my comment? I know. Hogan would have ruined it. But what about Austin? Would he have been world champion? Probably. Would Mr. Macmahon been the Heel though? It was the Montreal Screwjob that created that character.
That's the part that I think would be interesting for Corny to dissect.
Corny's ads are hysterical. Code Academy. If there is a script, JC goes so far off of it, yet it is entertaining. Brian's reactions are our reactions. And just when you think they have lost a sponsor, he pulls it back in and makes it work.
Pure genius.
They’re given a checklist of things to mention but the way they do it is up to the content provider. If you wanna see some funny / bizarre CZcamsr ad spots lookup nostalgia critic and some of his stamps or keeps comercials
You'll be laughing real hard when the lizard people take over and the bots are doing their bidding. Ain't no bots about it.
It's coding or winduh replacement in the future after the impending takeover. Mention "experience" for a discount.
I like when he goes off the rails insinuating things about the sponsor to the point you forget who the sponsor is and just when he says the most fucked up shit Brian brings it back with ….”Codecademy”…or “The Omax”
Honestly, I think my favorite part of the podcast is when Brian has to work overtime to keep Jim from going completely into the weeds on their commercials.
There's a very detailed "What if?" online about Kerry Von Erich accepting Michael Hayes' help during that cage match against Flair which started the Birds/VE fued.
Rewriting the book?
These clips are always the best. Better me having to laugh at WWE or AEW. Just serious narration from a guy that really knows his history.
This was a total shit clip
Literally the only things he’s good at because he’s absolutely out of touch to knowing what the modern fan who actually pays to see wrestling actually wants (unlike ppl like yourself who just piss and moan about it)
Love Dusty doing the Superstar Billy Graham pose
We need to film these Codecademy promos as a news editorial. With Corny behind the desk, of course...already laughing 😃 😀 😄....
I wasn't around for Backlund in the 80's don't think you could even watch WWF here in England then. Him against Razor was the first I saw of him it wasn't good. But his heel run was amazing!
Dusty would have probably ended up in Pat Patterson's role as right hand man to Vince Jr, and the de facto booker of the WWF during the expansion years.
Dusty would have had to wrestle with a shirt on.
True..but he wasn't that flabby then and Vince would have insisted that he keep in shape. In the territories, the belly would be easier to get over .
love when jim talks abt wrestling history
Damn it Corny, you got me at work trying not to laugh out loud. . . Keep the Ads coming!
I thought Travis illustrated Dusty Rhodes as a merman here. "Atlantic Dream," BEH BEH!
😄
I missed the Backlumd era by a couple years, but enjoy watching the old tapes. He was an absolute HOSS. Still probably is lol. Great comparison by Brian, a clean Lesnar, that’s no joke. He tossed bigger men around like rag dolls. I totally agree he’s up there with the greatest athletes to ever take the ring. And his heel turn was magnificent, as corny mentioned.
I've heard many historians debate the merits of Backlund, but these two still made it interesting.
17:18 Brian Last describing Bob Backlund's physique, "He's almost like Brock Lesnar, but "natural."
Backlund was one of the best technical wrestlers of all-time. The matches during his title first title run were amazing. He’s very underrated. His heel run in 1994 was fantastic.
I miss Dusty I miss the 80's which is probably why I listen to Jim
This is the Cornette I want , not the one reviewing modern wrestling.
I agree, I don't even listen the full Experience or Drive-Thru anymore, it's mostly reviews of modern crap wrestling. I want to hear about the legends, there a plenty of other podcasts for the outlaw mud shows.
@Mr, what's wrong with Corny reviewing the current state of the business?
We had Dusty and Superstar in 72 in Minneapolis.
Greatest matches I ever saw.
Loved the movie the Wrestler they filmed in the spring of 72.
Dusty would’ve at the very least matched hulk hogans charisma. I’d bet on it
Don't know if Dusty would have drew as much money but definitely would have been enough to have been a success.
@@maxxdahl6062 agreed, hogan maybe offerd a higher ceiling especially on the marketing side but one could only imagine dusty Rhodes and what he would come up with with the WWF machine behind him.
One reason Superstar drew so well is that fans at MSG really believed most of his opponents could win. And who does not want to see a title change?
I think Pedro got the belt in 1971 because WWWF flagship was Ch. 47 a mostly Spanish station. If WWWF had a better station, like WOR-9 I don't think Pedro gets the belt.
The idea of an All-American WWWF champion was a great idea to elevate the status of the title. Backlund looked like a world champion. He looked like someone who could represent the US in the Olympics. I think he elevated the status of the WWWF title.
One thing that gave Bob Backlund a big boost here in NYC/Metro area in 1982, WWF cleared a Saturday morning timeslot on WOR-9 and business picks up. In fact, this Saturday morning timeslot in NYC was unprecedented in the market, and is the springboard for over a dozen consecutive sellouts at MSG.
The thing that really made Backlund work as champion was that his ability and lack of personality allowed the WWWF to develop a lot of strong heels. Backlund could make anyone, no matter how limited their skills were, look good. And Backlund not being the center of attention allowed the heels to really get over.
@@Jim-Tuner that is true. The heels and their managers(Albano, Wizard, Blassie) were the biggest ingredient in the formula. And Backlund rarely wrestled on tv. All we got of him was his brief local house show interview with Vince and Rogers Corner in later years. Seeing him love was special.
Historians overstate the booing for Backlund. There was some depending on the city. But 1983 his feud and storyline vs Sgt Slaughter and Masked Superstar(inc Eddie Gilbert) was actually good stuff.
@@keithbarbaro7590 I wonder how much of that overstatement is piling on Backlund being more familiar with his later work as champ, and or comparing him to Hogan. Hogan had the All American gimmick as well, and they beat us over the head with that imagery. And you see that not only was Hogan a "Real American," he was a musclebound superhero
With that said, 5 years is a long time, it's only natural that people would get tired of Backlund or that his act would go stale. The same happened to Hogan.
@@ra0929 it's not an overstatement. MSG fans knew Graham would lose there after winning in Baltimore. Yes Hogan was All American too. Sgt Slaughter left late 84 allowing Hogan to assume a more patriotic character.
@@keithbarbaro7590 the booing for Backlund wasn't overstated? Just looking for clarification; if it was, I was ruminating on the possible reasons why.
Bob Backlund is my spirit animal, man.
Backlund deadlifting Hulk Hogan looks and is so damn impressive.
He's like 72 and he could still mess someone up. Not a man you want to trifle with. And certainly not in his prime when he was built like a tank.
I'm always talking about that short arm scissors/deadlift spot he would do! He also did it with Ivan Koloff when he was pretty close to 300 lbs. One of the best displays of strength I've seen to this day.
Graham did a face turn in the AWA and brought in Rhodes to be his partner. One of the most popular teams in AWA history, but it didn't last very long as they both headed to Florida shortly after.
Starting my morning with a Walk and Corny these days, thanks Brian & Corny for doing these 🙏🏼
What if....? Hogan had KEEPS?!?
Lmao 😂 🤣 Good One
They would kicked me outta school,showing up with my grandpas' bullrope,cardboard cut-out of the WWWF title in my glittered up bathrobe and my uncles' pimp hat.Listening to Dustys' promos at that time,they were so Ali-like you couldn't help but root for this fella,which me and all the rest of my fellow 9yr old lil' bits did here in Texas.R.I.P. Big Dust and yes,we're still living that dream.
1:43 in and we get a Dusty impersonation life is good.
I remember reading about those Graham Rhodes matches epic times.
Love these wrestling history videos. I was a big Backlund fan as a kid and got his autograph without having to list the president's 😂😂. It's so interesting to do the what ifs.
I'd like to hear a what if Magnum TA didn't have the accident and how if he was to be NWA champion how that would have went.
I imagine it would have been a short run, given how short Garvin and Steamboat had it. Garvin not defending it kinda opened my eyes as to the value of the title. I mean, I understand the circumstances behind his run, but still. If Magnum TA doesn't win the belt at Starrcade 86, I imagine he would have won it during the 87 Great American Bash. I think the events play out as they did with Nikita; Rhodes and TA would win the Crockett Cup in 87, TA would figure into the WarGames matches with Rhodes and the Road Warriors. I don't know what they do with Nikita, if they keep him a heel or turn him face. I would think with Luger as a horseman, they'd want to get the US title on him, so maybe they turn Nikita face? That allows his arc to play out the way it did; taking on the Russians, getting injured by Murdoch, that injury figuring into the loss to Luger.
So many different ways this can play out, up to and including a possible heel turn by TA.
I actually put together the whole Northeast Graham Florida connection. At the start of the 1980s I started asking my father to take me to wrestling at the Eddie Graham Sports Stadium in Orlando. He immediately recollected going to the garden in the Mid-late 1950s and seeing the Graham Brothers.
Mike Graham spoke about this after his father's death. The Graham brothers were so over as heels in the Northeast, Eddie's family had a hard time existing without severe harassment. The move to Florida and face turn was intended to eliminate that.
I think dusty in New York during disco era would have been huge. Dusty in studio 54?
Corny's Code Academy promo at the end was excellent.
It was a tough time hulk Hogan Dusty Rhodes instead of iron sheik the angle they went with was perfect for the time
Jim loves the word "gesticulating"
Where do I send my Questions to Sir Jimmy Cornett??
Dammit Jim...That Code Academy ad got me...It got me good! xD
Bob Backlund is Ope Taylor in tights.
Excellent segment ! I have looked at every match available on Dusty's stay in the WWF and every match available on Superstars title reign and to me there are no greater mistakes then taking the belt away from Billy Graham . The Superstar had grown into the most popular wrestle in the world and Dusty Rhodes was top draw already ! The belt could have been dropped at a later time - no problem. But not at that time. Vince Sr lack of foresight is the cause for the NWA incredible successes of the early 80's . And to our full enjoyment ! It gave us Slick Ric , The Midnight Express , The Rock & Roll Express , Nakita , Magnum , The Four Horsemen just to name a few.
In Vince Sr's defense, pro wrestling in the Northeast had a somewhat different psychology than in other parts of the country. Fans had been conditioned to root for a long term face champ like Bruno or Morales. Vince Sr viewed Graham as a transitional champ at first, but when he saw the houses that he drew in title defenses against Strongbow, Monsoon, Garea, Putski, etc, he decided to give him a longer run. That he was able to last 10 months like he did is a miracle given the times. Not to say that Graham wouldn't have made a great long term champ; just that Vince Sr wanted a more traditional babyface as long term champ and that was how business was done at that time and place. I know personally how Graham drew - I saw him defend against Strongbow at the Springfield Civic Center in Massachusetts, and as popular as Strongbow was in the Northeast at the time, he wouldn't have drawn that house (approximately 9,000) against anyone else even if the fans thought there was a chance he might take the strap off Graham. But in the final analysis, Graham was a heel and the majority of the fans in WWWF, even at his peak drawing ability, were booing him because he was a heel.
How many things would it change?
YES!
Fun fact: Superstar Billy Graham first told Bob Backlund to get into the business.
Around the 28 minute mark Brian says next week theyre going to talk about what if Dusty had won the title but they still havent done that 3 weeks later.
Yeah I tried searching for it in the YT Search. It never came up. I'm guessing they just forgot about it.
as kids, my brother and i loved mr backland. cross-face chicken wing always entertained us
Backlund probably would have got the NWA belt for a period of time.
I am so glad that the fantasy tag team of Dusty Rhodes and Billy Graham was mentioned
@Da Weav, & sadly as of yet I haven't found any footage of Dusty tagging with Billy Graham when they both worked for Verne.
@@TheSportsfan35 Would be cool to see the original Dream Team in action
All those fancy words sounded like a Keith Lee promo 😂
Technically it was New Jersey and not New York where Eddie Graham's Florida wrestling aired. On a Spanish language station out of Newark.
I know because when I was trading tapes I got one that had a Dusty Rhodes match where a WNJU Newark graphic flashed on the bottom third. I had to pull out an atlas to make sure there wasn't a Newark in Florida.
I use to watch in NYC....Tuesday at 11pm......on UHF.....channel 47
These kinds of segments are why Jim Cornette is the best pro-wrestling podcaster in the world.
Yeah, I don't really enjoy hearing his takes on modern wrestling but I am absolutely in love with hearing him talk wrestling history.
It's like the Mothership with Jim Cornette
If Dusty had become champ instead of Backlund, I expect the extent of Backlund's career would be a couple of short Tag Team Championship reigns with Tony Garea.
I would imagine that Backlund would have gone to AWA or an NWA territory in that case and held the title. He was a great wrestler, but an awful fit for the WWWF.
@OllieByGolly, couple short tag title reigns was basically what Dino Bravo got during his run with Vince Sr & then when he came in for Vince Jr, he was brought in to be a glorified job guy which is what happened with Backland after he dropped the title to Nash.
Backlund had great matches with Greg Valentine and great feuds with Sgt. Slaughter and Don Muraco. He was 100% over with the fans and his in-ring was excellent. His match with Harley Race NWA vs WWF in MSG is one of the best wrestling matches anywhere from the 70's. He could have good matches with anyone and outstanding matches with top workers. The worst run he had was his program with Kung-Fu Billy Graham, because Billy had tons of heat but could barely bend at the waist.
If Dusty had won, he would be defending against Ivan Koloff and Ernie Ladd, who both drew buckets of $$$ and he had huge feuds with in the NWA. Patera (who had been discussed as champion, according to him), Valentine, Stan Hansen and the Valiant Brothers would also be early challengers, if we follow who Backlund was booked against. Add in the champ vs champ match with Race, Texas Death and bull-rope matches and tag team ups with Andre, you would have at least three years of full houses and bloody magazine cover photos. Dusty would have had a legendary run as WWF campion.
Man I can't wait for this "What of" show and hopefully it's the first of many
Yes Jim you're right Bob backlins still lives in connecticut. Sometimes you can see him jogging through glass and Berry Connecticut all the way down to East Hartford Connecticut and back! By Badland is still a nice guy till this day you stop and talk to him and he's got the time of day for you especially if you're talking about wrestling and I don't mean professional wrestling I mean like high school college but he is a nice guy.
It took me about 20 years after backland was unseated as champion, to really appreciate bob’s work. As an athlete he was in the same category as Bruno, harly, bockwinkel, flair, steamboat, snuka, orndorff, rocky Johnson or anyone in the business. So I now really appreciate him a lot more than I did back in the day.
Heard a rumor 10 years ago or so that Vince wanted Snuka as champion instead of Hogan. Then the Nancy Argentina incident so Vince went with Hogan Hence, why Snuka was still in Hogan's corner at WM1
@PoliticalThis, if you watch the DSOR episode about what happened with Nancy & Snuka, they basically pointed that out, I mean if Nancy hadn't died, Snuka probably would've been the 1 tagging with Hogan at WM1 & not Mr T.
Bob gave some legitimacy back to wrestling he was believable anyone who's ever been in a fight knew flair and dusty were bullshit but there were still alot of people who cared about the athletic sport and not the pomp
I think of Backlund like I think of The Patriot. Great wrestlers, they gave us great matches. Much more could have and should have been done with them. But they lacked flavor, personality, narrative, etc.. When gum loses its flavor you spit it out. Hogan and Flair were like some sort of gum that could regain the flavor. Backlund was not. He was great otherwise.
This was a great topic.
Love the Don Rickles reference😂
The night before Billy dropped the strap to Bob he didn't like him very much and was going to lay down for Sammartino but last moment they listened to Vince Senior.
What’s ironic is that Graham broke Bob into the business!
And that drama was one of the things that insured Billy wasn't going back to the top of the cards. Holding up promotors over title changes never works out well in the long run.
They even drew the tummy splotch. Wow eye to detail.
Could we match up the dates on when Vince Jr. took over and when Bob started to wear a singlet? Or better yet, when Bob refused to turn heel and when Bob started to wear a singlet? Bob's transformation was not gradual. He was one way for several years and then he changed very close to the end. It was like someone was intentionally burying him to get him out of the way.
At least Dusty wouldn't have been spouting crap about taking his vitamins
Bob Backlund is like what would happen if you toned down Brock Lesnar and gave him his cross faced chickenwing which was the Kamora Lock of its day that really hurt people. Backlund was an upper midwest guy from South Dakota who was brilliant gold in a time when WWE was really tanking to WCW. If you go watch Backlund and his old trainer who threw in the towel to force him to lose the WWE championship, the payoff is when he puts the guy on a stretcher with his crossface chickenwing he uses for anyone who gets in his way making him a total off the chain nutcase which really helped his career at the end by making him a legit threat to anyone who got mixed up with him.
Backlund was great as the crazy heel
This video started playing I didn't know what it was and I heard you guys talking about Dusty Rhodes and I remember when I was little watching him And one of the main things that popped in my head when I always thought about Dusty Rhodes was that big brown spot on his side and that's what I was thinking about when I heard you guys talking and I looked up and saw your cartoon image and I lost it lol what is that anyway a birthmark? Lol
Take a look at some of Backlunds matches and you'll see one of the strongest wrestlers ever. He was too quiet and bland in promos but his comeback as a heel was legendary.
He was useful being quiet and bland though. The spotlight was always on the heel rather than him and he made anyone he was working against look great - even if they were bad in the ring.
I've heard Corny talk about "Ma daddy inna garden" a few times but I don't get the reference?
I thought I tuned into all these episodes but I've obvs missed it. That, and the "da people, da people" is another one that escapes me
Anybody shine any light? I'd be awfully grateful 🙏
Dusty Rhodes Vs Macho Man would have been a totally different series of matches had Rhodes been Vince Jr's choice instead of Hogan.
I've heard Backlund himself say that he didn't really understand the business until his 90's heel run.
I remember an interview where he said he had a vague sense there was something sketchy going on with his Atlanta match vs Flair in '82. But Vince told him not to worry and that he would "take care of it". Whatever that meant.
Still the NWA World Heavyweight Champion, THE AMERICAN DREAM DUSTY RHODES!
It always cracks me up when Brian loses his shit when Corny is doing their product promotion
Vince Sr. had no interest in another wildly popular champion topping his card - Dusty, Graham, Bruno, none of them. Not after paying through the nose for Bruno those last four years. This was a change in philosophy. To prevent getting held up (from his view) like he'd been with Rogers and Toots and Bruno, he was going to book like Eddie Graham. He was going to sell the card and put a pure athlete on top that he could control. There was nothing Superstar could do to keep the belt. There was nothing Rhodes could do.
They could have waited and kept the belt on Gram and he could have dropped it to Hogan. It would have been a long run, but Hogan gram may had sold. Just a thought.
I've been curious about his splotch
It's a birthmark
it's a belt sander mark from where it said Goodyear Jim Cornette is the funniest mother fucker
@@dr.options I've seen it change sizes though.
@@terrencewesterman851 it just changed size due to his weight increase. I'm just quoting his own response from an interview that you can Google yourself.
People used to sleep on backlund
That man was a shooter if they had turned him into like a real rugged shooter style Wrestler kind of like promotions did with Bob Armstrong .I think they could have used him in way more angles. I love also the Mr. Backllund heel
Virgil "Dusty Rhodes" Runnels didn't need to win the title to be over. He was like the Undertaker. He could hold the belt occasionally, but it wasn't a requirement. I mean, he was Dusty Rhodes. A legendary wrestler and booker. Unless it made sense thematically, he didn't have to be champion. Flair and Borden didn't have to be champion all the time either. But when they did, they tried to make it count. Before you worry about who has the belt, you have to make sure that the belt actually means something to whoever wins it and it helps solidify a wrestler or culminate their push to the top. If you have to keep going back to guys like Flair, Dusty or Undertaker, that's probably an indication you don't have much in the way of main event talent. Those guys were way over for most of their careers. When Hogan had the WWF belt constantly, it started to mean less and less because except for Warrior and Savage, they weren't getting many guys over, especially as babyface main eventers. It wasn't until the steroid scandal that Vince was forced to change course and push more athletic, more believable talents like Bret, Shawn and others to the main event scene. The problem with a bad or mediocre booker is that they tend to ride the hot hand into the ground. Once they have a superstar on their hands or a moneymaking stable, those guys hog the belts and nobody else gets over. What I admire about Flair was that he'd actually do jobs for people he felt deserved the push. Bret did the same thing. He brought in Steve Austin and helped make him a star. It wasn't just about him. HBK never got anyone over except himself. The best wrestlers can go in the ring and prove they're the best, while elevating new guys and growing the business as a whole.
Yeah, Hogan drawing record numbers made the belt mean less. Jeez, you marks are fucked up in the head.
I saw Backlund wrestle as a jobber in GCW, and then a few years later I pick up a wrestling mag in the store and glance at the cover. There was a photo of 2 rasslers in the ring, and the headline said “WWWF World Champion Bob Backlund,” and I thought “WHAAAAA???” He couldn’t beat a bowl of batter in GCW. lol
If not Hogan, Vince should have went with Kerry Von Erich.
In 83-84 Kerry with Vince may have saved his life.
Plus, think of the rivalrys with Savage, Andre, Warrior and later Flair!
Wwe fans and younger fans cannot fathom how over dusty was in the early 80s. He was the guy back then. Great cross over appeal
What if my aunt had balls? She would my uncle
Tell em Mr. Cornette
Midnight express!!!!!!
God I wished Dusty got the WWWF belt then.
Dustymania would be runnin wild, beh-beh
I'm dying 😅😅😅 omg code cademy
It's awesome to hear Brian giving Backlund his props. So many people today (after listening to too many Larry Zbysko/Superstar Graham shoots) try to claim that Backlund wasn't over, and nothing could be further from the truth.
Larry Z is bitter he didn’t get the title off Backlund in 1980z I love Larry Z but it’s true. Superstar is not wrong that they could’ve maybe gotten another six months out of him as champion with a face turn but listen to the pop when Backlund beats him. Backlund was over. Superstar also forgets that he is still the longest reigning heel champion in what has always been a face territory
With all the talk about Backlund from 1982 onward - the crying, the hair cut, the singlet - I'm surprised there was no mention made of the fact that Vince Jr. was responsible for those changes. He bought the WWF in 1982, and all of those things happened under his tenure as owner.
Backlund's strengths didn't really come through on the WWF's dull-ass tv. He would have been well served it they showed filmed highlights like they did on Florida wrestling. He always showed you something interesting in the ring. What I rarely hear mentioned is how powerfully he connected with the crowds at the matches. He defended that belt on behalf of everybody, like it really mattered. It didn't come through with Vince and a cameraman. And surrounded by Freddie Blassie & Lou Albano's goofball goons, Backlund's earnestness made for a pretty fresh gimmick.
Dusty would have been champion for a year than never came back
Yay