----I picked up “Rodman Downunder” at the $1 bin at Wal Mart last Friday and thought I would
share a review of it here. I am not going to give the results of the matches, because there might be some people that have picked up and want to watch it. Or they might go to Wal Mart and get one after the review. I mean it is only a $1!!!MATCHES
-Table Match: Road Warriors vs Public Enemy
-Hardcore Match: Barbarian vs “Brute Force” Brutus Beefcake
-Grudge Match: Brandi Wine vs Sweet Destiny
-International Title Match: Tatanka vs One Man Gang
-Australian Outback Match – Curt Hennig vs Dennis Rodman
RAMBLINGS
----Vince Mancini & Ted Dibiase do commentary. Dennis Rodman is a good heel here…This group is called iGeneration Wrestling with Curt Hennig as the champ and P
E as tag team champions. Show is taped from Australia…Dibiase seems to not like PE for shoot. They talk about Roadies being in shape, but they weren’t..LOL. Both announcers make fun of Grunge…Grunge had an in juried elbow and looked horrible in the bout…The “iGenerattes” [a group of girls] come out and dance between matches…Lots of NWO shirts in the crowd…They bleep out every curse word, which is probably because this is sold at Wal Mart…Beefcake was introduced as “Brute Force” in full “Barber” gimmick with yellow and red colors. Beefcake name on the DVD cover…Beefcake was in good shape – looked natural…Production and camera work was good…Brandi had a manager that they called “Sugar Daddy”, who looked just like Tugboat....Sweet Destiny is accompanied by “Aussie” Joe Bugner, who is a famous boxer that went the distance Muhammad Ali twice and Joe Frazier once…Destiny had a nice natural body, but most people would think she is too fat ala Brittany Spears…Destiny looked like she killed Wine with a superplex…Tatanka was listed as the InternationalChampion…Crowd throws water bottles in the ring during OMG vs Tatanka. Surprisingly with both of these guys being vets – no psychology…igenerationwrestling.com is not a site anymore…One of the girls that came out with Hennig [I guess just a ring girl] was a very good looking girl…Hennig juices…Outback match was just a hardcore match…Hennig chopped Rodman SOOO HARD!!!...Crappy finish in the main, but Hennig did a really good job carrying Rodman…I thought the cover art and the disc were of less quality than the RRO releases.BEST MATCH: Hennig vs Rodman
WORST MATCH: Roadies vs PE
DEATH ROLL
-Curt Hennig
-Hawk
-Rocco Rock
-Johnny Grunge
AFTERMATH
----Since I did not do research before watching the DVD, I looked on the net for various stuff after I watched it. This show was from 7.30.2000 and aired on PPV in December of 2000. It was from Sydney, Australia at the Sydney Superdome and drew 10,000 people. I also saw this DVD on EBAY for $1 plus $4.95 for postage & handling.
WANNA READ A BOOK??
----The b
ook is called “Memphis Wrestling History – Cards, Matches, Results & Newspaper Clippings Vol 1 1970 – 1985” by Mark James. I was fortunate enough to get a copy sent to me for review. [I have to send it back though!!] When I first started looking thru it, I was bit disappointed with it. I thought “All there is here is clippings!!” Duh!! That is what the title says dammit!! Disappointed I was not after spending many hours looking at this book. You can track the feuds and results – letting you know what made money and did not make money. The forward is done by Scott Bowden. You can also tell that the author put A LOT of hard work into putting this together.----One of the interesting years is 1980 because that was the year that Jerry Lawler broke his leg. January 28, 1980 – last show in 1980 with Lawle
r wrestling until September 9, 1980 and it was only appearance managing Jimmy Valiant. [He also made two personal appearances in June, 1980] They drew over 7,000 people that night, but they had been drawing in the 4,000 to 5,000 range for the last few shows before it. The promotion had done pretty good that year holding up from the loss of Lawler. They used Bill Dundee, Jimmy Valiant and Tommy Rich most of the time as their top babyfaces. Their top heels were Wayne Farris, Larry Latham and Paul Ellering. Austin Idol and Dutch Mantell came in later working as heels. Billy Robinson was in as CWA champion and had some classic bouts with Bill Dundee. Except for that one show in September, the average for the later part of the year was i
n the 3,000 to 4,500 range, but dropping some weeks with less than 3,000. The fans were tiring of Tommy Rich as the top babyface and hungry for Jerry Lawler to come back to wrestle. Last show of the year with the return of Lawler drew a crowd of 11,000 with probably a gate of around $45,000 to $50,000!!----I highly recommend the book, if you are a long time Memphis fan. If you are a student of wrestling, you can learn a lot by looking at the results and how much they were drawing. The book is professionally published and you can buy a copy by clicking HERE. You can take a look at more clippings and such at the author's web site - click HERE.
----Thanks for joining me for the Thursday edition of “Coach’s Corner.” Oh yea, the DVD is worth a $1 and the book is worth the money and reading. I have also added some pages of the book throughout this edition. Double click them and you will get a larger view. Hope you enjoy!!
