Gelgarin's Tournament Posts

[The_Misson]

It's tied now and I've already voted for Gagne.

 

[The Dragon Saga]

Verne Gagne now leads by one, you can thank me later.

I've been pre-occupied throughout the tournament battling the good cause of Jericho, so my thoughts in other brackets have been scattered and less forceful. But taking light of the situation, one thought came to mind... I respect Andre the Giant, but I fucking hated him as a wrestler. Glorified due to his stature, overrated due to his moments. And I've only ever seen like two matches of Gagne.

 

[Con T.]

Quick question to anyone that's prepared to vote now, off of reading this thread, and Joe, i'm looking at you;

Are you going to vote now based off of reading this bar room thread, or have you actually read the actual thread?

 

[Joe's Gonna Kill You]

Quick question to anyone that's prepared to vote now, off of reading this thread, and Joe, i'm looking at you;

Are you going to vote now based off of reading this bar room thread, or have you actually read the actual thread?

I've read the whole thread

 

[Con T.]

I've read the whole thread

All I needed to know, just found it a little funny that this thread floats right to the top, and votes are comin in for Gagne

 

[Gelgarin]

I'd gone off in a sulk a while back; but apparently Andre is up by two votes with a few minutes remaining.

One last push people? For me?

 

[klunderbunker]

Alas no, Andre wins.

 

[Gelgarin]

I was going to post the chorus to How Could This Happen to Me, but I could find it separate from the rest of the song. Would have been hilarious though.

I tried. Hopefully at least the primary goal of getting people to cut down on the ******ed observations about Gagne "booking his own success" will prove successful.

Fingers crossed for Thesz in a 60 minute ironman next round.

 

[JGlass]

This guy brought it to Gelgarin, I'm impressed.

Well, I guess thats it then. Thesz wins. I mean, why even have the vote? I motion we just move Thesz forward. Why waste time. Someone second it and...wait, lets not be too hasty. Maybe someone should at least make an arguement. I mean, if for nothing else to give everyone a good laugh. Guess I could try.



Maybe a little debate.



Yes they did.



I wouldn't call Toronto, Ontario Bruno's home turf, although I will admit he was wrestling full time in Canada at that time.

And lets not make it seem like Thesz never wrestled there. Wasn't it about one month before thesz won the NWA title from Rogers in Toronto?



One, I have never heard of frank Tunney being refered to as bruno's mentor. True he helped Bruno out when he was blackballed and set up in the USA, and for that Bruno had great respect for him, even going so far as to wrestle for him one sunday a month even when he was WWWF champ. But mentor?

Two, Tunney was the booker but the NWA Board of Directors determined the champs matches, not the booker of a certain area.




Well, he was younger, but it happened just going into his fourth year as a pro. I would argue his prime was the late sixties until the mid seventies when he broke his neck.



Actually the match happened in 1963; Thesz was born in 1916; so he was 47. I understand though, subtracting big numbers is tough.

I will concede that Thesz was 19 years older then Sammartino, and was then an establish wrestler with tons more experience.



True. Lets look at the write up in the paper...

Newspaper account of the Lou Thesz vs. Bruno Sammartino NWA World Title match March 14,1963 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, Ontario.

9,000 SEE THESZ RETAIN NWA TITLE Nine thousand fans thronged into Maple Leaf Gardens last night to see if their hero Bruno Sammartino, the Italian Hercules could capture The National
Wrestling Alliance World Title from Lou Thesz. And for almost all of 25 minutes and 44 seconds that the bout lasted it
appeared that the popular Bruno was not only gain the title but dismember the champion Lou Thesz in the process.
The bout started as everybody expected-a battle between the scientific Thesz and the muscular Sammartino. That lasted exactly 3 minutes. A VILLAIN. Thesz apparently realizing that the 15 year spread between he and his much younger opponent, could have a telling effect if the bout went on too long, turned villain. It was unusual and unexpected happening. The champion who has been know for years as one of "the clean men" in the game began clipping on the breaks, throwing illegal elbows, and using the ropes to bolster his holds. Not only that. As the bout progressed and Bruno's superior strength became apparent, the champion ran to the corners to evade the punishing holds,
even begging from a kneeling position at times. EXHAUSTED Finally after repeated headlocks and the occasional bearhug had weakened Thesz, he made a desperation heave while Bruno had Thesz in a tight squeeze.
The thrust threw Bruno backwards and he landed on his head. The champ also ended up on his back, completely exhausted. Neither wrestler moved while referee Tiger Tasker counted. Then just as the count neared the 10 count, Thesz rolled over and laid his arm across Bruno's chest. This according to Tasker, was enough to indicate a pin and he proceeded to count,1-2-3 and that's how Thesz, despite taking a terrific going over retained his title.
Results:
- Lou Thesz defeated Bruno Sammartino with a top spread in 25:44
- Bulldog Brower and Johnny Valentine defeated John Paul Henning and Mike
Valentino, when Valentine used a brainbuster and a bodypress to pin Mike
Valentino in 12:35
-Gene Kiniski used a kneedrop and a backbreaker to pin Stan Stasiak in 11:14
- The Beast was award the decision over popular Billy Red Lyon's when
Lyon's was counted out at 11:14
- Han's Schmidt and Gentleman Jim Hady wrestled to a 15 minute draw
-Taro Sakuro and Ilio Dipaolo wrestled to a 15 minute draw in the opener.

So the much more experienced, all be it older, Thesz begged, cheated and won on a fluke over the less experienced Sammartino. Wonder why Thesz didn't make him submit?



Here Sammartino will be in his prime and no won thinks thesz will be able to match Bruno's strength. Why does it have to be technical?



Prepare to laugh.



You are right. What am I thinking. Bruno only has a headlock. Its hopeless. Its...wait. Didn't Bruno win his first world title with a hanging backbreaker? Wasn't that his finisher early on? Isn't that a submission hold? Hold it. Didn't Bruno also get submissions with his bearhug? Didn't he make Giant Baba submit to it? In Japan? I think he did. Whether you agree with me on Bruno vs Thesz or not can we all agree that the above post is silly, pointless, and a waste of time?

Finally, I would like to say that even if Sammartino lose 100-1 I will be happy. I regard Thesz as one of the greatest ever and will be thrilled to see him advance. I am also thrilled to see Bacland, Andre and Gagne this far in. I hope that they continue to do well. I just consider Sammartino to be the best ever. Thats my opinion. Prime vs prime I feel Sammartino wins. I just hope people do their own research and vote accordingly and don't just read the first post , decide thats right, and vote like sheep.

I mean, Thesz is better than Sammartino in many ways, but he did pretty well for himself in there.

 

[Gelgarin]

Yeah; as opposition goes that was pretty good - certainly better than anyone else has managed. It deserves a response at any rate if I can find the time.

 

[GI Cake]

I didn't think the Thez/Bruno match would have been so lop-sided. But hey, that is how the cookie crumbles.

 

[Gelgarin]

At the end of the day, Thesz was better than Bruno and there's not a whole lot of stylistic difference to debate. He's also had a top tier poster consistently refusing to shut up about how amazing he was, whilst nobody significant appears to like Bruno.

 

[Tastycles]

I think the main thing is that both of them are usually supported by the same crowd. If that crowd plumps for one over the other, the people who don't have a clue follow suit, and it turns into a drubbing.