MrMojoRisin
Championship Contender
Came across this, and had to share. The match is from a house show in 1988, and is right when Owen first joined the WWF, but before they debuted the Blue Blazer on TV. They were still working everything out with the character, hence the different name and completely different look.
- this match is from 1988, but easily could have fit right in with any WCW cruiserweight division match from the late 90's. A long time back on this forum, I mentioned how Owen was trailblazing as an aerial wrestler in the 80's, and most didn't believe me because that's not the guy they watched in the 90's. This is one of those matches that shows that. In 1988, the only other guy in North America that was doing moonsaults was Lanny Poffo, which was more of an actual backflip than anything else. Muta came in a year later and started blowing people away by doing it on a bigger stage. Owen was doing stuff like that in front of less people a year or two earlier
- it's nice to see how Barry Horowitz could actually go. He's forever known as one of the TV job guys, but the truth is, he was actually a talented wrestler who likely was just too easy going and agreeable of a person to have ever survived in a company like the WWF. Who knows. If early on, he had stood up for himself more and not allowed himself to be jobbed out every night, maybe he eventually turns into a solid mid-card act?
- Gotta love Gorilla and Superstar Graham on commentary here. It's refreshing to see the commentators actually just call the match, instead of talking about everything but. It's also great to see them explaining the holds, how they work, why that one didn't work, and to just treat what they're seeing in front of them as legitimate and something important.
- The quality isn't always the greatest, but this is almost 30 years old, and would have just been taped on someone's VHS. As well, this match was actually pretty popular on the old tape trading circuit, so who knows how many watches this particular recording had before being put online?
Anyways, enjoy. This is a great little gem that's just fun to watch.
- this match is from 1988, but easily could have fit right in with any WCW cruiserweight division match from the late 90's. A long time back on this forum, I mentioned how Owen was trailblazing as an aerial wrestler in the 80's, and most didn't believe me because that's not the guy they watched in the 90's. This is one of those matches that shows that. In 1988, the only other guy in North America that was doing moonsaults was Lanny Poffo, which was more of an actual backflip than anything else. Muta came in a year later and started blowing people away by doing it on a bigger stage. Owen was doing stuff like that in front of less people a year or two earlier
- it's nice to see how Barry Horowitz could actually go. He's forever known as one of the TV job guys, but the truth is, he was actually a talented wrestler who likely was just too easy going and agreeable of a person to have ever survived in a company like the WWF. Who knows. If early on, he had stood up for himself more and not allowed himself to be jobbed out every night, maybe he eventually turns into a solid mid-card act?
- Gotta love Gorilla and Superstar Graham on commentary here. It's refreshing to see the commentators actually just call the match, instead of talking about everything but. It's also great to see them explaining the holds, how they work, why that one didn't work, and to just treat what they're seeing in front of them as legitimate and something important.
- The quality isn't always the greatest, but this is almost 30 years old, and would have just been taped on someone's VHS. As well, this match was actually pretty popular on the old tape trading circuit, so who knows how many watches this particular recording had before being put online?
Anyways, enjoy. This is a great little gem that's just fun to watch.
