What do you miss most about "Classic" Wrestling?

[Iceman]

What do you miss most about "Classic" Wrestling?

I miss and think "Classic" WWF Wrestling was so much better than current Wrestling. From 1980-1992.

I miss:

Piper's Pit (Roddy Piper)
Mr.T
Saturday Night's Main Event
Saturday and Sunday morning Wrestling (just relaxing in the morning watching it was great)
Jesse the "Body" Ventura doing commentary.
Bobby the "Brain" Heenan overall.
Macho Madness (Randy Savage w/Elizabeth)
The Skits and Interviews before the matches.

Skit: Roddy Piper, Bob Orton, and Vince go to the Doctor's office to discuss Bobs Cast and look at X-Ray. "Quack, quack, quack"

The Managers: Mr.Fuji, "Classie" Freddie Blassie, Captain Lou Albano, Cindi Lauper, Bobby the "Brain" Heenan, Jimmy Hart, Elizabeth, Slick, "Scary" Sherri, Paul Bearer, Brother Love.

And what I miss the most was all the Superstars in Wrestling back then. Now Wrestling has no Stars and half of us could Wrestle just as good as them in my opinion, and anybody that juices regularly is a Pro Wrestler all of a sudden.

WWF Classic Stars: Bruno Sammartino, "Superstar" Billy Graham, Ivan Putski, Nikolai Volkoff, Tony Atlas, Ken Patera, the Moon Dogs "Rex" and "Spot", the Iron Sheik, Andre the Giant, the "Magnificent" Don Maruco, Jesse the "Body" Ventura, Brutus the "Barber" Beefcake, Big John Studd, Adrian Adonis, Jimmy "Super Fly" Snuka, Hulk Hogan, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, "Cowboy" Bob Orton, "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorf, George the "Animal" Steele, Sgt Slaughter, Kamala the "Human Head Hunter", Mr.T, Junk Yard Dog, King Kong Bundy, Ricky the "Dragon" Steamboat, Hillbilly Jim, Uncle Elmer, Cousin Luke, "Leaping" Lanny Poffo, Corporal Kirschner, the Missing Link, Randy "Macho Man" Savage with Elizabeth, Jim the "Anvil" Neidhart, Billy Jack Haynes, Jake the "Snake" Roberts, Haiti Kid, Terry Funk, Hercules, the "Natural" Butch Reed, the Honky Tonk Man, the One Man Gang, the "Model" Rick Martel, "Ravishing" Rick Rude, the "Million Dollar Man" Ted Dibiase, Virgil, "Mr.Perfect" Curt Hennig, the Ultimate Warrior, Akeem the "African Dream", HBK, the Undertaker, Razor Ramon / Scott Hall, Tatanka.

This was when Wrestling was real, or at least real good.

I missed it so much I made a site dedicated to it. To relive more of the Classic Era check out my main site, there's plenty of great Classic Pictures too and Polls to vote on.

Iceman's World to Classic Wrestling
icemanswrestling.co.nr

[vonerichironclaw]

I def Miss Pipers Pit

Also Miss The Hart Foundation

The Rockers

The Red White And Blue Ring Ropes

[thesourone]

I definitely miss the tag teams, stables, and managers.

[grumpyoldman]

Awesome topic!

I miss how the WWE (then WWF) used to be broadcasted from Agricultural Hall in Allentown, PA. It had that smokey, crowded look to it. Some friends of mine from school used to go every month & tell me the outcomes of about a months worth of tapings (They would tape about a months worth of TV in 2 or 3 hours). I still remember flipping out when I saw my one friend at ringside on TV.

I miss how Mr. Fuji used to throw the ceremonial salt before his matches, but if he wasn't facing a jobber, he'd sneak some back into his trunks.. The crowd would see it and go bananas.

I miss the big red letter X that used to cover the screen whenever someone would bleed.

I miss Sgt. Slaughter's "Cobra Clutch Challenge" and how I cheered like a little girl when Pat Patterson nerly broke the hold (leading up to one of the bloodiest fueds I ever saw).

I miss the look of the old world title when Bob Backlund had it (before Billy graham took it & destroyed it)

[Iceman]

grumpyoldman said:

Awesome topic!

I miss how the WWE (then WWF) used to be broadcasted from Agricultural Hall in Allentown, PA. It had that smokey, crowded look to it. Some friends of mine from school used to go every month & tell me the outcomes of about a months worth of tapings (They would tape about a months worth of TV in 2 or 3 hours). I still remember flipping out when I saw my one friend at ringside on TV.

Nice, sounds like a good time and good memories with friends.

I miss how Mr. Fuji used to throw the ceremonial salt before his matches, but if he wasn't facing a jobber, he'd sneak some back into his trunks.. The crowd would see it and go bananas.

Lol, Fuji was sneaky and funny at times.

[Matt Brock]

I too miss the red/white/blue ropes. I miss when wrestlers would do their promos in front of the wwf logos for upcoming house show matches. Just the wrestler and a mic. I miss how feuds would build up and matches would take weeks upon weeks, not just 2 guys to wrestle each other out of nowhere.

[oldschooler]

Promos,Gordon Solie,loser leaves town matches,Pipers Pit,

What I miss most is a certain Satelitte Station called ScreenSport in the UK which showed tons of oldschool Promotions like NWA,AWA,ICW,WCCW,South West,Glow,Stampede,etc

[BWO 4 Life]

I agree about the promos.
I might have posted on another board about it, but you couldn't help but get excited when Hogan or the hero would say "Big John Studd, you're going down in <enter your hometown>, brother!"

Made it more intimate and special.

And why could Piper get someone over in a 3 minute segment, but HHH has to have 15 minutes?

Back then I always thought... boy when I have kids, it will be cool to watch this with them... but then all the swearing, and beer drinking, and sex with dead people, kind of ruined it.

They watch the bits and pieces I let them... mainly Hurricane & Rosey, Kurt Angles matches, RVD matches.
They know who the guys are due to my collection.
My oldest daughter now sits with me when I'm burning my old tapes to DVD (lord will I ever get caught up. LOL), and she loves seeing the guys back then.

And I really think the internet, AND the hurry up mentality of this generation is really hurting the business.
Everyone knows what is going to happen next, so they're not going to be excited to see it on tv, and god forbid if someone has anyone in a headlock or test of strength for more than 60 seconds anymore.

I actually had to explain what a sleeper hold was to my kids the other day, and the ramifications of it.

well, thanks for reading my rant.

[Iceman]

oldschooler said:

What I miss most is a certain Satelitte Station called ScreenSport in the UK which showed tons of oldschool Promotions like NWA,AWA,ICW,WCCW,South West,Glow,Stampede,etc

Geez, sounds like a great station, wish they had a station on like that now that showed all the old matches from those leagues.

[Iceman]

bwo4life said:

I agree about the promos.
I might have posted on another board about it, but you couldn't help but get excited when Hogan or the hero would say "Big John Studd, you're going down in <enter your hometown>, brother!"

Made it more intimate and special.

And why could Piper get someone over in a 3 minute segment, but HHH has to have 15 minutes?

Back then I always thought... boy when I have kids, it will be cool to watch this with them... but then all the swearing, and beer drinking, and sex with dead people, kind of ruined it.

They watch the bits and pieces I let them... mainly Hurricane & Rosey, Kurt Angles matches, RVD matches.
They know who the guys are due to my collection.
My oldest daughter now sits with me when I'm burning my old tapes to DVD (lord will I ever get caught up. LOL), and she loves seeing the guys back then.

And I really think the internet, AND the hurry up mentality of this generation is really hurting the business.
Everyone knows what is going to happen next, so they're not going to be excited to see it on tv, and god forbid if someone has anyone in a headlock or test of strength for more than 60 seconds anymore.

I actually had to explain what a sleeper hold was to my kids the other day, and the ramifications of it.

well, thanks for reading my rant.

That's cool that you watch it with your daughter.

I agree with a lot of what you say, some good points.

[legendkiller1]

Red, White, and Blue Ropes

The old multicolor neon entrance stage

Monday Night Raw in the Manhattan Center

The old red RAW block lettering stage

Saturday Night's Main Event

Superstars

Wrestling Challenge

Mania

Managers

Tag Teams

Wrestlers:

Marty Jannetty
Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake
Jake "The Snake" Roberts
"The Million Dollar Man" Ted Dibiase
Irwin R. Schyster
Kamala
Old School Undertaker and Paul Bearer
Mr. Perfect
Ravishing Rick Rude
Rick Martel
Tatanka
The 1-2-3 Kid
Old School Heel Shawn Michaels
Diesel
Razor Ramon
Adam Bomb
Randy Savage
King Kong Bundy
Mr. Wonderful Paul Orndorff
Koko B. Ware
Brian Pillman
Owen Hart
Arn Anderson
Lex Luger
The Zodiac
The Taskmaster Kevin Sullivan
The Whole Dungeon of Doom
Giant Gonzales
Mantaur
Leif Cassidy
Issac Yankem DDS

ALL WRESTLING FROM 1986-1996!!!!!!!!

[gmccarron]

I miss seeing jobbers get squashed, I miss the prerecorded interviews during matches where an enemy of the person wrestling would cut a promo on them, and I miss the managers.

[Ric Flair 4 Ever]

What i miss about "classic wrestling".......I will try to condense this as much as possible,especially considering it would take me a whole day to write it all down..lol...but here are the main things:

1.Storylines that (a) make sense....(b) dont get dropped halfway through the story arc and (c) make people actually wanna pay to see the outcome of said storyline

2.Tag Team wrestling-I mean in general.I grew up in an era of Road Warriors,Midnight Expresses,RnR Expresses,Freebirds,Demolition,Bulldogs,Samoans,Rockers,Foundations,Fantastics,Fabulous Ones,Anderson/Blanchard,Koloffs etc,etc,etc............I'll give props to some of the late 90s teams in WCW ,WWF and ECW as well(ie Edge/Christain,Dudleys,Hardys,Harlem Heat,Pit Bulls etc).But todays state of tag team wrestling is,at best, a joke.....end rant

3.Feuds that last longer than a month.....and you actually want them too! Heres an example of what I mean: Hulk Hogan(who I dont like) and Paul Orndorff(who i do like) had an almost year long feud and sold out every arena they did a show in.Every tv special,house show,or PPV style match they had put asses in seats or viewers to a screen.Myself included....Now the flipside:Eddie Gurrerro(who I like) and Rey Mysterio(who I also like) have been feuding for about 5 months.They are capable of having a 5 star match on any given night.There has been about 3 or 4 changes to try to keep this storyline fresh........and I would'nt pay a dime to see them have another match unless it was for a Lucha promotion in Mexico.Thats the difference.And when the WWE do get a good feud going,it generally dies out in about a month.Go figure..............

4.Managers-I mean really....what happened there?Were wrestling managers infected with a strain of virus that caused them to go the way of the dinosaur?When you look back on the late 90s managerial "greats" who will they be?...............Sony Oono?

5.And to keep this somewhat short(well shorter than it could have been) I'll get to the biggest thing I miss about "classic wrestling".................COMPETITION!............we need more than one major north american company.Either that or revert back to the territorial system...but as much as I enjoyed that system,it really is a step back.So for wrestling to have a bright future again we need someone to step up and become a viable alternative to Vince.Be it TNA,ROH, or even Japan trying to make inroads to the states...........we NEED that.And ,in turn,when pushed ;I know Vince McMahon is capable of turning out more "classic" moments.We just need someone to do the pushing so to speak.

[Iceman]

Well Flair your definately right on several points.

The tag-teams, well there are no tag-teams and that is simply the problem, your right, hasn't been a true "real" one since the "Outsiders" (Hall & Nash), and I guess you could say the ECW tag-teams.

Yeah, what happened to those good long feuds: Steamboat and Macho, Hogan and Orndorf, Hogan and Andre, Piper and Adonis, Mr.T and Piper, and the list goes on. Geez, they went out of style quick like the Mullet, then again the Mullet was never in style.

I know, there haven't been no Managers in Wrestling since the A-Team went off TV.

We need other "strong"Wrestling leagues, ever since ECW and WCW went down the sport called Wrestling has gone down with it.

[Cradle Shock]

Good managers and the selling of moves. Today, I'm hard pushed to find a move that no one has ever kicked out of. Back in the good old days we used to believe in finishers, and it was a huge event when someone kicked out of a finisher. Now, it's almost a customary part of main events.

As for what Iceman was saying about needing other 'strong' leagues, I believe that TNA and ROH are our only current hopes, with TNA getting the national TV deal and ROH's huge following. I kinda view ROH as today's ECW, because ECW was a unique promotion in it's day, and ROH is the most unique promotion around at the moment, with the whole 'Code of Honor' deal and the more realistic action.