Fame or Shame: Pro Wrestling Discussion Thread

[JaseSF]

Lee Marshall joins the Hosts/Announcers Hall of Shame. I mainly remember Lee Marshall as the voice of the AWA in the late 1980s-1990. He had a big mustache and a deep voice and while he was far from great on play-by-play, he did bring a lot of energy to the table. He called matches alongside the likes of Verne Gagne, Eric Bischoff, Greg Gagne and Ray Stevens. He also did quite a few backstage interviews and host segments there. He later appeared in WCW as co-host of WCW Thunder and WCW Saturday Night but was surprisingly forgettable, his most memorable thing probably being his "Weasel" jokes directed at Bobby Heenan during his trademark "Road Reports" segment. He also played host a continuing Nitro parties segment on WCW Monday Nitro. Personally, I almost completely forgot he was in WCW. In 1986, Marshall was the ring announcer for the Los Angeles portion of Wrestlemania 2. He also acted as play by play man for the short-lived Women of Wrestling organization paired with owner David MacLane as his color commentator. At the WOW PPV, he was actually paired up again with Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. He won the Wrestling Obsever Worst Television Announcer award in 1998. Today he's best known for being the deep voice behind Tony the Tiger, a position Marshall is contracted to continue until 2014.

[JaseSF]

The Brooklyn Brawler joins the Singles Hall of Shame. Had he been an "Enhancement Guys" game, I'm sure he would be a shoo-in for an Hall of Fame section. Anyways, Steve Lombardi made a lenghty career of helping advance other stars' careers putting them over in surprising entertaining albeit one-sided matches on TV and in arenas week after week, even for some guys no doubt less talented than he was but for whatever reason, had the right look and mix of elements that the higher-ups felt said performer deserved a push. He was extrememly loyal to the WWF through his many years of service there. Finally in the late 1980s, Lombardi was rewarded with a bit of a push as he was re-invented as "The Brooklyn Brawler", a cigar chomping bad egg from the streets of New York and was now managed by Bobby "The Brain" Heenan during his feud with "The Red Rooster" Terry Taylor with Heenan claiming that he could make anyone, even Lombardi, a star.

In the 1990s, Lombardi participated in several masked gimmicks including spending some time as Doink the Clown and some time as Kim Chee, Kamala's masked handler. He also played the short-lived Abe "Knuckleball" Schwartz character. In 1991, Brawler held his own in a feud with WWF newcomer Big Bully Busick. He competed in a couple of battle royals with WWF Intercontinental title shots on the line but was eliminated. In 1997, he won a battle royal that earned him a shot at Shawn Michaels' WWF World title but he was defeated by HBK. In 2000, with help from Chris Jericho, he scored a pinfall win over WWF World Champion Triple H in a non-title match. He also defeated Just Joe in a match on WWF Jakked.

On a 2004 Smackdown, Lombardi turned on his New York heritage (actually he's really from Detroit?!) and renamed himself the Boston Brawler which didn't go over well with Heidenreich. In 2006, the Brooklyn Brawler reappeared in ECW and lost to Kurt Angle and then to Vito on Smackdown! Lombardi has made few more recent appearances as Doink the Clown too. In the independents, Lombardi has won Border City Wrestling Can-Am heavyweight title and the BCW Can-Am Television title. He's also held the NWA Michigan heavyweight title. The Brawler was also managed by Harvey Wippleman at one point.

[HappyGilmore]

For whatever reason I always liked Lombardi/Brawler.  I dunno.

For an 'enhancement talent' kinda guy, he's pretty good.  And oddly enough, lost to Rocky Johnson in the '80s, and lost to his son, a young Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson shortly after Rock debuted in '96 or so.

[JaseSF]

The Eliminators (Perry Saturn & John Kronus) joins the Tag Teams Hall of Fame. Perry Saturn, an imposing tattooed, compact built and muscular grappler capable of great mat and ground and pound wrestling teamed up with John Kronus, a daredevil high-flyer who went all out and wasn't afraid to get hardcore in matches. They first wrestled together in the USWA in 1993. They soon began pursuing tag team gold and came close when they made it to the finals of a tag team tournament for the vacant USWA Tag Team titles only to lose in the final to Eddie Gilbert, Saturn's mentor, and Brian Christopher. They'd gain a measure of revenge though a few weeks later when they would defeat Gilbert & Christopher for the USWA Tag Team titles on May 2, 1994. They held the belts for about 6 weeks before dropping the titles to PG-13 (Wolfie D and Jamie Dundee). Even after losing the titles, they continued on in the USWA until the end of 1994. In 1995, they competed in Japan's WAR federation and gained some valuable experience.

In 1995, Paul Heyman took note of them in Japan and signed them for ECW. Initially planning to job them to the Steiner Brothers, Heyman changed his mind once he realized what team was going to stick around the longest and the Eliminators instead defeated the Steiners. In ECW, they were presented as an unstoppable force of destruction not unlike the Road Warriors and Demolition. The Eliminators soon found themselves embroiled in a violent feud with The Pitbulls that eventually resulted in Francine, the Pitbulls manager, cutting Saturn's head. Soon he had his trademark bald head. On February 6, 1996, the Eliminators beat Mikey Whipwreck and Cactus Jack for their first ECW World Tag Team championship. After finally settling things with the Pitbulls and getting past them, the Eliminators soon found themselves the targets of the Gangstas (New Jack & Mustafa Saed). After several inconclusive bouts, the Gangstas finally defeated the Eliminators, as well as the Bruise Brothers and the Samoan Gangsta Party. The Gangstas even though defeated in subsequent rematches managed to hold onto the titles until December 20, 1996 when the Eliminators finally regained the titles on an ECW house show. The feud continued into 1997 and soon involved a third team newly arrived on the scene - the Dudley Boyz. The Eliminators held off the challenge of Rob Van Dam and Sabu but would lose the titles to the Dudley Boyz at Hostile City Showdown on March 15, 1997. However the Eliminators regained the titles about a month later at ECW's 1st PPV Barely Legal on April 13, 1997.

At the end of May, during a three way dance between the Eliminators, the Dudleys and PG-13, Saturn tore his ACL when he landed on a crutch. Despite the injury to Saturn, the Eliminators held off the challenge of the Dudleys at Wrestlepalooza'97. Kronus then defended the title successfully in handicap matches fending off the F.B.I. until Saturn finally competed in a match on June 20, 1997 at an house show to drop the titles back to the Dudley Boyz. After intensive reconstructive surgery, Saturn was expected to be out for a year but he instead began rehabilitating after two months and returned in August although in a diminished capacity due to his knee problems. Saturn had become impatient with partner Kronus and his "lack of dedication and motivation" and refused to reform the Eliminators with him. Saturn eventually signed with WCW and left ECW behind. Kronus continued on without Saturn but never achieved the same level of success again whether in singles or in new teams, his most successful post-Eliminators probably being the Gangstanators when he teamed with New Jack.

[HappyGilmore]

I loved The Eliminators.  Great team.  Underrated for what they did.

[JaseSF]

Andre the Giant joins the Singles Hall of Fame. Billed as "The Eighth Wonder of the World" in wrestling circles, Andre did prove quite an attraction wherever he went. People wanted to see this unusually huge giant wrestler who seemed almost unbeatable, unstoppable. Billed at 7 foot 5 inches and weighing over 500 pounds throughout much of his career, Andre was actually closer to the 7 foot mark in terms of height and his best days as an in-ring performer were when he was under the 500 pound mark. Actually Andre's great size was the result of his suffering from acromegaly.

Initially discovered by Lord Alfred Hayes as a teenager, Andre moved from his small community in France to Paris to train under the legendary Eduaoard Carpentier. When Andre debuted, he was billed as Jean Ferre, the name of a legendary French lumberjack. Initially he wrestled in arenas and carnivals in Europe, Africa and New Zealand. In 1969, he competed in Japan's International Pro Wrestling under the name Monster Roussimoff and would become quite the attraction in Japan over the years. After Japan, he moved to Montreal, Canada where he finally gained newfound popularity in North America. After initially getting over well, after a while it seemed like there was no one left for Andre to beat so eventually a deal was worked out for Andre between the McMahons and other promoters where Andre would be given a travel-intense schedule so he'd never wear out his welcome wherever he went and he'd always have fresh opponents to face. This move arguably made Andre the Giant, billed as a friendly, kind-hearted French giant one of the most beloved men in wrestling history. Andre not only wrestled the best of the best in the WWF but also took on the best the NWA, the AWA, Mexico and Japan had to offer. In Mexico, he lost to local legend El Canek. In Japan, he lost to their legend Antonio Inoki. He also went on to time limit 60 minute draws in matches with the likes of Harley Race and Nick Bockwinkel.

Perhaps his most bitter rivalry in the early 1980s was against Killer Khan, who was said to have broken Andre's angle (kayfabe) leading to an intense feud that saw Andre eventually extract a measure of revenge in a Mongolian Stretcher match. Another memorable 1980s feud Andre had was with Big John Studd over who was the "True Giant" of wrestling. The feud got really personal when Studd and Ken Patera, managed by Bobby "The Brain" Heenan eventually attacked Andre and cut his hair. After extracting some major revenge on Patera, Andre would defeat Studd in a bodyslam challenge at Wrestlemania and then attempt to throw the $15,000 in prize money he won out to the fans only for Heenan to eventually snatch it away. At Wrestlemania 2, Andre won a special battle royal that included both pro wrestlers and NFL football players. Following this, Andre continued his feud with Studd who was now teaming with King Kong Bundy. After being suspended for a supposed no-show (actually he was busy filming The Princess Bride playing Fezzik, another lovable giant), he donned a mask and became the Giant Machine teaming up with the Big & Super Machine. As that gimmick faded away, Andre eventually returned to the picture in stunning fashion as the newest protege of Bobby "The Brain" Heenan and suddenly he wanted a World title match with longtime friend and partner Hulk Hogan at Wrestlemania III. This led to the famous Wrestlemania III showdown between Hogan and Andre which was the main draw for the 93,000 plus in the Pontiac Silverdome. Actually by this time, Andre's size and weight had ballooned so much he was in constant pain and actually limited as to what he could do in the ring. Still he managed to have a memorable match with Hogan and eventually helped put Hogan firmly on the map as the superstar of superstars as Hogan not only bodyslammed Andre but also pinned him which few had done before. Actually it was claimed by announcers at the time that Hogan was the first. Actually Hogan himself had previously slammed Andre as far back as 1980 when Hogan was a young heel and Andre was the beloved hero. Prior to this, Stan Hansen, Kamala, Harley Race and Don Leo Jonathan had slammed him. At the inaugural Survivor Series, the main event pitted Hulk Hogan's team against Andre the Giant's. In the end, Andre was the sole survivor of that match. On February 5, 1988, with the help of "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase and a crooked twin referee named Earl Hebner, Andre pinned Hogan for the WWF World title in controversial fashion when the 3 count was made despite Hogan's shoulder being up. In essence, Hebner helped screw Hogan (as he years later was help screw another WWF world champ in 1997). After the match, Andre would sell the World title to the Million Dollar Man leading to the title being held up and declared vacant and setting up a tournament for Wrestlemania IV. After getting seeded to the second round, Andre and Hogan battled to a double disqualification. Hogan would gain a measure of revenge defeating Andre in a steel cage match at WrestleFest'88 and in a tag team match with Randy Savage defeating Andre and DiBiase.

Next Andre found himself feuding with Jake "The Snake" Roberts after it became evident Andre had a major fear of snakes. Eventually this would cost Andre in the 1989 Royal Rumble match and Roberts would actually beat the Giant by DQ at Wrestlemania V. 1989 also saw the return of a newly face Big John Studd who now continued his old feud with the now heel Andre. Andre also had a memorable feud with Hacksaw Jim Duggan around this time. Following this, Andre was repeatedly squashed in matches against the Ultimate Warrior, designed to get the Warrior over as wrestling's new big star. In late December, Andre began teaming with Haku as the Colossal Connection and would defeat Demolition for the WWF World Tag Team titles on December 13, 1989. They held the titles until Wrestlemania VI when Demolition successfully regained them. Following the match, Bobby Heenan berated Andre for the loss leading to an angry giant lashing out at Heenan knocking him out which the fans loved. Finally Andre was a fan favorite again. Sadly Andre was no longer able to really compete at this point in time as he was in constant pain due to the weight and the acromegaly. Andre spent the rest of his wrestling career in Japan that mostly saw him compete in tag team bouts alongside Japanese legend Giant Baba. His final match was in December 1992. On January 23, 1993, Andre died from congestive heart failure. Andre was the first person inducted into the WWF/WWE Hall of Fame in 1993.

Andre will also be remembered for other things outside of wrestling. The tales of his drinking are the stuff of legend and no doubt are mainly the result of his large size meaning it took a lot to get him inebriated. He also of course well be remembered for his role of Fezzik in The Princess Bride and possibly some might well remember him as Bigfoot on The Six Million Dollar Man. He also played Dagoth in Conan the Destroyer, frequently appeared as a guest star on Micki and Maude. Mostly he was billed as a lovable, friendly, good-natured giant but no doubt his long life of being in the public spotlight mainly due to his freakish size must have been hard on him at times.

[JaseSF]

The Nasty Boys join the Tag Teams Hall of Shame. Brian Knobbs and Jerry Saggs made for a colorful trash-talking pair of punk street fighters who were just plain rude and nasty wherever they went. In their 1980s heyday, their look was quite different and distinctive what with their sunglasses, chain-adorned trench coats, mullet-hawk haircuts, graffiti sprayed T-shirts - they looked like they might have just come from causing chaos at a local punk rock concert show.

The Nasty Boys were actually childhood friends who dreamed off becoming a wrestling tag team and achieved said dream. They got their start in the AWA where they truly stuck out like a sore thumb but had some memorable bouts and brawls there. While in the AWA, they had two reigns as AWA Southern Tag Team champions. In 1988, they moved to Florida wrestling and had great success there winning 5 NWA Florida tag team championships. In 1990, they debuted in WCW and challenged The Steiner Brothers for the United States titles but failed to defeat the Steiners despite delivering some intense brawling. In December 1990, the Nasty Boys alongside manager Jimmy "Mouth of the South" Hart debuted in the WWF. Here the Nasty Boys finally achieved their first world tag team championship- the WWF World Tag Team titles upsetting The Hart Foundation at Wrestlemania VII thanks to timely help from Jimmy Hart and his motorcycle helmet. Their title reign however would prove short-lived as The Legion of Doom: the Road Warriors would make short work of them at Summerslam '91 in a No-DQ, No-Countout match. In late 1992, the Nasty Boys would actually turn face after Money Inc. won the tag team titles and Jimmy Hart seemed to favor DiBiase & IRS. The Nasties however would fail to regain the WWF World Tag Team titles.

In 1993, the Nasty Boys returned to WCW now managed by Missy Hyatt and had perhaps the best run of their careers there. They captured the WCW World Tag Team titles and had memorable hardcore style brawls with the likes of Cactus Jack & Maxx Payne, Kevin Sullivan & Cactus Jack and Harlem Heat. They defeated Arn Anderson & Paul Roma, Marcus Alexander Bagwell & 2 Cold Scorpio and Harlem heat for their 3 WCW World Tag Team titles. They also feuded with the Blue Bloods. In 1996 after being offered membership in the NWO, the Nasties were surprise attacked by the NWO. In an subsequent match vs. Hall & Nash, Saggs suffered a legit and serious neck injury which effectively ended his career at that time. Brian Knobbs then started pursuing the WCW Hardcore title but failed to capture it. Finally many years later, Jerry Saggs finally returned and reunited with Knobs in the XWF winning the tag titles there. When XWF folded, they seemed to have retired but eventually starting showing up on Hogan Knows Best. Finally in 2007, they made a surprise appearance on WWE Smackdown tapings in Florida. In 2009, they appeared on Hogan's Australian Tour show. In 2010, they shockingly reappeared in TNA and began a feud with Team 3D which Team 3D eventually seemed to win but the Nasties, now well past their prime, held their own surprisingly well. The Nasties have garnered a reputation for being genuinely stiff with opponents on occasion and some of their matches have seemingly degenerated into quasi-shoots. The Nasty Boys were well just plain nasty but as good as they were, they always seemed to be overshadowed by other more talented well-rounded tag team performers. The Nasty Boys though could brawl and fight with the best of them and may well be one of the best brawling tag teams in history.

[HappyGilmore]

I liked the Nasty Boys for what they were.  Nobody would mistake them for a great 'technical' style like Malenko or Hart, but Mick Foley did give them some credit and say some of his matches with the Boys left him reeling.

[JaseSF]

Terri Runnels joins the Managers/Valets Hall of Shame. Runnels in the 1980s initially worked as a make-up artist for CNN but on the weekends she also did the make-up for the wrestlers of Jim Crockett Promotions (the NWA). In 1990, then-booker Ole Anderson asked her to become a wrestling manager and the character of Miss Alexandra York, a laptop carrying accountant who managed a group of finance themed wrestlers in the York Foundation, was created. The gimmick never really got over and the wrestlers York was paired up with fans have trouble buying as self-made men aside from perhaps a pre-I.R.S. Mike Rotunda's Michael Wallstreet(Terry Taylor, Ricky Morton, Tommy Rich). Despite this, Runnels was employed by WCW for six years. The York Foundation of Rich, Morton & Taylor did win the WCW Six-Man Tag titles.

In 1996, she debuted alongside real-life husband Dustin Rhodes as Marlena to his Goldust. She portrayed a cigar-smoking strumpet whose character was patterned somewhat after Marlene Dietrich. Marlena actually rarely got physically involved in matches but proved a shapely distraction at ringside, even flashing her breasts to gain her man an advantage on one occasion. Eventually a feud with Brian Pillman would occur that left some suspicion Marlena had cheated with Pillman. Unfortunately Pillman's untimely death occurred before the angle could be completed but nevertheless Goldust and Marlena split not long after that. In 1998, she re-emerged as the on-screen girlfriend for Val Venis, claiming at one point to be pregnant by him. He dumped her when she told him the news. Following this, she teamed up with Jacqueline to form P.M.S. - Pretty Mean Sisters and briefly managed D-Lo Brown and Mark Henry. However during a match Brown accidentally bumped Runnels who claimed to have a miscarriage only for Brown to find out she was never actually pregnant at all. P.M.S. then took on Meat as their client using him as reputed "love and sex slave".

In 1999, Terri Runnels finally got a bit more serious storyline offering to become the manager of the tag team that won the Terri Invitational Tournament between the Hardy Boyz and Edge & Christian with the winning team getting both her as manager and $100, 000. The Hardy Boyz eventually won in a ladder match and Terri became their manager eventually becoming the first woman the Dudley Boyz powerbombed through a table around this time. Eventually Runnels would turn on the Hardys and join Edge & Christian as their manager. But Edge & Christian eventually just dumped her as manager. Runnels then started feuding with the Kat resulting in a catfight between the two at Wrestlemania 2000 which Runnels won. The feud finally culminated in a "Stink Face" match which the Kat won by performing the move first on Runnels at Summerslam 2000. Next Runnels became the on-screen girlfriend and manager for Perry Saturn of the Radicalz and managed him to a European title win. Eventually though Saturn according to storyline would bump his head and dump Runnels for "Moppy", his on-screen mop/girlfriend   . This led to Runnels managing Raven who took Moppy and fed it to a woodchipper. In late 2001, she briefly feuded with Trish Stratus. On May 27, 2002, she actually pinned a dazed Stevie Richards to win the WWE Hardcore title which was defended 24/7 only for Richards to pin her immediately after to regain it. In March 2004, Runnels requested and received her release from WWE so she could spend more time with her daughter. Post-wrestling, Runnels has done a lot of devoted charity work and has written several books, including an advice and photography book.

[JaseSF]

Sir Oliver Humperdink joins the Managers/Valets Hall of Fame. In his early days in Montreal he managed the Hollywood Blondes of Dale Roberts and Jerry Brown. Humperdink would eventually move to Florida in the early 1970s and would get involved in a feud between Mike Graham and Kevin Sullivan. He shortly thereafter managed the arriving Hollywood Blondes in that territory too. Sir Oliver Humperdink would go on to be one of the greatest managers in Florida and Central States Wrestling history feuding with the area's top faces/stars like Dusty Rhodes, Lex Luger, Barry Windham, Roddy Piper, Harley Race and Mike Graham and leading its top villains including his House of Humperdink of Kevin Sullivan, Lord Humongous, Hercules, Gene Anderson, Bruiser Brody, Jos Leduc,  Bad Leroy Brown, Greg Valentine, Paul Jones, Kareem Muhammed, Ivan Koloff and Matt Borne. He also managed the likes of Abdullah the Butcher, Superstar Billy Graham, Dick Slater, Ox Baker, The Great Muta, the Funks and the One Man Gang. During this period, Humperdink actually held the Florida and Central States TV titles as a wrestler (no doubt thanks to the help of his men)! Humperdink is likely better remembered today for his brief stints as a fan favourite manager to Bam Bam Bigelow in WWF and the NWA and "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff in 1987-1988. He later managed the Wild Samoans/Samoan Swat Team in WCW and was Big Daddy Dink along with the Fabulous Freebirds of Jimmy Garvin & Michael Hayes. Humperdink has stated in the past he felt uncomfortable in these roles as they were really a vast departure from his heelish persona in the territory days.

Kevin Kelly joins the Hosts/Announcers Hall of Shame. After some time as a disc jockey, Kelly (real name Kevin Foote) debuted first as a ring announcer on the independent wrestling circuit in the Orlando, Florida based International Wrestling Federation in 1991. At the request of Billy Gunn, he received a tryout with WWF and was eventually hired in 1996.  In 1997, Kelly worked alongside Michael Cole and Jim Ross during the first hour of WWF Monday Night Raw. Eventually though this was eventually phased out and it became just Ross and Lawler as the play by play team. In 1999, he became a backstage interviewer for Raw and Smackdown! Kelly was involved in the controversial Pillman-Austin gun angle memoribly shouting "Pillman's got a gun!" In the late 90s, early 2000s, the Rock would make fun of Kelly calling him an hermaphrodite and nicknaming him "Hermie" and he felt Stone Cold Steve Austin's wrath too receiving a stunner at one point. Eventually Kelly became the host of Byte This! and began working as a WWF talent scout. Kelly also became involved with Creative and helped put together the McMahon-Helmsley Faction storyline. He also produced Confidential. In November 1999, Kelly debuted as an heel manager in the Delaware based East Coast Wrestling Association. There he formed several heel factions one of which would help him defeat Cheetah Master for the ECWA Heavyweight Title on April 7, 2001. He was stripped of the title less than a month later. In December 2005, Kelly was inducted into the ECWA Hall of Fame On March 21, 2003, Kelly was released by WWE. After this, Kelly worked on an Internet wrestling radio show and also worked with independents such as Major League Wrestling and Eastern Pro Wrestling. Kelly now works on Internet radio shows and is the voice of Ring of Honor on internet PPVs. Kelly wasn't so bad really but typically wasn't ever given much of a chance to really show what he could typically playing second fiddle to someone else more often than not.

[HappyGilmore]

I liked Kevin Kelly and I'm sure I'm in the minority.

[JaseSF]

Gorilla Monsoon joins the Hosts/Announcers Hall of Fame. After a lenghty in-ring career as the monstrous Gorilla Monsoon, a bearded giant billed from Manchuria, who had a very impressive in-ring career dominating most opponents and providing quite a challenge to top world champions such as Bruno Sammartino and Pedro Morales, teaming with Killer Kowalski to win the U.S. tag titles. In 1969, Monsoon would turn babyface following an attack by the notorious Sheik and would remain a popular fan favourite for many years after. He would go on to challenge Superstar Billy Graham for the WWF World title as a babyface. He also had a memorable encounter with Muhammad Ali whom he gave an airplane spin and slammed to the ground. After some years helping put over and build other talent, Monsoon retired from in-ring action and became a leading play by play announcer and was rewarded for his many years of loyal WWWF/WWF service by always maintaining some position with the company.

Growing up in the 1980s, Gorilla Monsoon was the voice of the WWF on Pay Per Views and often on Coliseum Home Video tape releases. He and Jesse "The Body" Ventura made for a memorable pairing at the early Wrestlemanias (the first six), early Summerslams, early Survivor Series, etc.. When Ventura left the WWF in 1990, Monsoon would soon be paired up with Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, making a humorous and memorable pairing that would delight many young fans and leave them with fond memories. Monsoon was lead announcer for WWF All-Star Wrestling, WWF Wrestling Challenge, WWF All-American Wrestling  and WWF Prime-Time Wrestling. Sure Monsoon would rely a little too heavily on certain catch-phrases such as "This place has gone bananas!", "The Irresistible Force meeting the Immovable Object" and "History has been made here tonight" and also misused words such as "literally" - "They're literally hanging from the rafters here tonight" - "This place just literally exploded!". He also often referred to where blows were landed - "he just got it in the medulla oblongata" in his style too and made references to in-ring action in kayfabe terms and often mentioned his and Ventura's (and other commentators past) as in-ring performers saying stuff like "Boy am I glad I retired" after a devastating move was hit. Monsoon stepped down as lead play by play announcer for the WWF PPVs in 1993 with Wrestlemania IX making way for new arrival Jim Ross. Monsoon would remain with the WWF in a backstage role and would play the role of WWF President in 1995-1997 until health concerns forced him to relinquish the role. To me, Gorilla Monsoon and his announcing will forever be tied to fond memories of watching pro wrestling as a kid and I'm sure I'm not at all alone in that.

Tully Blanchard and Arn Anderson join the Tag Teams Hall of Fame. In the mid-1980s, a powerful group was formed in the NWA - this would be the Four Horsemen of NWA World Champion "Nature Boy" Ric Flair, Tully Blanchard, Arn & Ole Anderson managed by James J. Dillon. Initially Tully was the second man behind Flair also holding or being in contention for the United States, Television or National titles while the Andersons teamed up. However in 1987, when Ole was kicked out of the group in favor of new arrival Lex Luger, who would go on to win the United States title. Shortly after losing his TV title, Tully Blanchard along with Arn Anderson, the Enforcer of the Four Horsemen, would form a very successful tag team. Tully and Arn, a finely meshed unit of destruction in the ring, soon captured the NWA World Tag Team titles from the Rock 'n' Roll Express on September 29, 1987 and successfully retained the titles even in the face of the imposing challenge of the Road Warriors. However a new team of Lex Luger and Barry Windham, following Luger's defection from the Horsemen, would prove too much at Clash of the Champions I. However, less than a month later, Tully & Arn would regain their NWA World Tag Team titles defeating Windham & Luger when Windham shockingly turned on Luger and joined the Four Horsemen himself. Windham would go on to win the United States title, and with Flair as World champ and Blanchard & Anderson as NWA World tag champs, the Horsemen had more gold than ever! Tully & Arn held off many challengers including make-shift teams of Nikita Koloff & Sting, Sting & Lex Luger and Steve Williams paired with either Koloff or Sting. Soon they would be targeted by the United States tag team champions The Midnight Express of "Sweet" Stan Lane and "Beautiful" Bobby Eaton who would upset them for the tag titles on September 10, 1988. But Blanchard and Anderson had given their notices in NWA by this time and were now headed to the WWF.

Blanchard & Anderson debuted in the WWF as Bobby "The Brain" Heenan's Brain Busters in October 1988 and did indeed bust some heads there. They really didn't change their style much from the NWA aside from now pointing to their heads during matches to show they were smarter than everyone else and adding an illegal finishing spike piledriver to their arsenal. At their PPV debut, Survivor Series 1988, the Busters eliminated the Hart Foundation before getting double DQed along with the Rockers. The Busters and the Rockers would have a terrific series of matches as their feud intensified with the Busters narrowly coming out on top in the end. At Wrestlemania V, the Busters defeated former WWF World Tag Team champions Strike Force when Rick Martel just turned on Santana and walked out on him during the match. Now the Busters were in prime position to challenge WWF World Tag Team champions Demolition. The Busters won the first match on Saturday Night's Main Event on May 27, 1989 by DQ. In a best two out of three falls rematch on July 18, 1989, the Brain Busters defeated Demolition thanks in part to a bit of timely help from Andre the Giant. The Busters made history being the first team ever to have held both the WWF World and NWA World tag team titles in history. They also ended Demolition's record setting title reign that had lasted 478 days, a record that still stands. The Busters' reign however would prove a bit short-lived as less than 3 months later on October 2, 1989 (actually the match didn't air until November), Demolition would regain the WWF World Tag Team titles in controversial fashion as Blanchard, the illegal man in the ring, was pinned. Shortly thereafter the Busters began to fall apart and would go on to lose in their last big Saturday Night's Main Event bout vs. the Rockers in a best two out of three falls match as during the match Heenan would abandon them after they lost the first fall and fire them after they won the second fall leading to them losing the third fall. At Survivor Series 1989, Tully Blanchard was replaced in his match because he failed a drug test and Arn Anderson left shortly after and returned to the NWA who would not take back Blanchard because of the failed drug test effectively ending one of wrestling's most successful ever tag team tandems and arguably one of wrestling's best ever pairs when it came to double team and pair maneuvers. They really flowed well in the ring and truly seemed the proverbial well-oiled machine.

[JaseSF]

Dean Malenko joins the Singles Hall of Shame. Malenko in actuality was one of best, most technically sound pro wrestlers in history earning the nickname "Man of a 1,000 Holds". Unfortunately Malenko was also far from colorful in the ring and on the microphone although sometimes he could show a surprisingly intense level of emotion. Malenko actually had great success everywhere he competed and gained a number of impressive titles notably dominating the cruiserweight and light heavyweight divisions.

Malenko is a second generation performer being the son of the Great Boris Malenko. His brother Joe Malenko was also a talented grappler whom Dean often teamed with in Japan and Mexico. Early in his career, Dean captured the Suncoast Pro Wrestling Southern title and the ICWA Light Heavyweight title on the independent scene.

In 1994, he'd move on to ECW where he became known as "The Shooter" where he impressed with his technical prowess and determination. On November 4, 1994, he defeated 2 Cold Scorpio for the ECW TV title. In early 1995, he formed a successful faction along with Shane Douglas and Chris Benoit called The Triple Threat. On February 25, 1995, he and Benoit defeated Sabu and the Tazmaniac to win the ECW Tag Team titles making Dean a double champion. A month later however he dropped the TV title back to 2 Cold Scorpio. On April 8, 1995, he and Benoit lost the tag titles to Public Enemy. In the summer of 1995, Malenko began to feud with Eddie Guerrero in a memorable series of matches that saw Malenko win a second ECW TV title only to lose it back to Guerrero a week later. Their matches together were so good they drew the attention of WCW who eventually signed both grapplers. During Malenko's last match with ECW, he and Guerrero had an outstanding best two out three falls match to say goodbye to their loyal ECW fans.

In late 1995, Malenko moved to WCW where he soon was nicknamed "The Iceman" for his cold and calculating demeanor. On may 26, 1996, Malenko defeated Shinjiro Otani for the WCW Cruiserweight title. He held the belt for two months successfully fending off challenges by Brad Armstrong, Disco Inferno and Rey Mysterio Jr. until Mysterio finally defeated him on a July 8, 1996 edition of WCW Monday Nitro. He however regained the title from Mysterio at Halloween Havoc 1996 and successfully fended off Psychosis before losing the title to Ultimo Dragon at Starrcade 1996. Malenko regained the title for a third time from Dragon on a January 22, 1997 Clash of the Champions show. He'd hold on to the title for about a month before losing it to the NWO's Syxx at SuperBrawl VII.

At Uncensored 1997, he'd defeat old rival Eddie Guerrero for the WCW United States title. Following this title win, he'd become a fan favourite and would start feuding with the Four Horsemen including former partner Chris Benoit. He successful fended off challenges from Benoit and Jeff Jarrett. However Jarrett would defeat him for the title on a June 9, 1997 edition of WCW Monday Nitro after Eddie Guerrero interfered turning heel.

In 1998, Malenko again began to seek the WCW Cruiserweight title. He failed to regain it in a match with Eddie Guerrero at Starrcade 1997. In mid-1998 after several failed attempts to regain the title, he'd end up in a bitter feud/rivalry against Chris Jericho. Malenko eventually won a battle royal for a title shot dressed as the masked Ciclope and defeated Jericho for his fourth WCW Cruiserweight title but would shortly thereafter be stripped off the title for not winning the shot as himself. The title would be declared vacant and Jericho would defeat Malenko for the vacant title at the Great American Bash 1998 with a DQ win. Malenko then helped Rey Mysterio Jr. defeat Jericho for the Cruiserweight title but the title would eventually be returned to Jericho due to Malenko's interference and he'd eventually be "fired" in the continuing storyline. Finally Malenko would get a measure of revenge as with him as special guest referee at Road Wild 1998, Jericho lost the title to Juventud Guerrera.

In September 1998, Malenko was chosen as the fourth member of the latest incarnation of the Four Horsemen and formed a very successful tag team with Chris Benoit, whom he'd teamed with in ECW. Feuding with the NWO, the West Texas Rednecks, they eventually captured the WCW World Tag Team titles from the Rednecks at Uncensored 1999. Two weeks later however, the lost the belts to the Filthy Animals Rey Mysterio Jr. & Billy Kidman. When the Horsemen finally disbanded in mid-1999 due to Flair's abuse of power, Malenko joined Shane Douglas's Revolution faction. The faction would feud with David Flair, Diamond Dallas Page and Chris Kanyon, the Filthy Animals, the Varsity Club, West Texas Rednecks and the First Family. Malenko however failed to defeat David Flair for the United States title and lost his final match in WCW, a "catch as catch can" match vs. Billy Kidman.

After being given his release by WCW, Malenko and fellow grapplers Chris Benoit, Perry Saturn and Eddie Guerrero all joined forces in the WWF as the Radicalz. On the March 13, 2000 edition of Raw, Malenko defeated Essa Rios for his first WWF Light Heavyweight title reign. Soon thereafter he found himself feuding with Scotty2Hotty who defeated him for the title on April 17, 2000. He'd regain the title from Scotty on a April 27, 2000 edition of WWF Smackdown!

Later that year as the Radicalz drifted apart, Malenko entered into a feud with Eddie Guerrero & Perry Saturn over Guerrero's new relationship with Chyna and the losses he & Saturn suffered as a tag team. At Judgement Day 2000, Guerrero successfully defended his WWF European title against both Malenko & Saturn. Eventually though the Radicalz reformed and Malenko began a "Double Ho Seven" parody gimmick of James Bond where he was a swinging ladies man accepting the Godfather's hos and pursuing Lita and feuding with the Hardy Boyz. Eventually he put his Light Heavyweight title on the line against Lita in a match where he'd win a date with her if he won. He won that match but the date didn't go exactly as he'd hoped. Later however Lita would gain some revenge defeating him a match with more than a bit of help from Matt Hardy. He also began feuding with other divas including Jacqueline and Ivory who were disgusted by his lecherous ways. A title feud with Crash Holly began when Crash interfered in a two on one handicap match against Jacqueline & Ivory costing him the match. After holding the Light Heavyweight title for almost a year, Malenko finally lost it on an episode of Sunday Night Heat to Crash Holly. Malenko then reformed his tag team with Perry Saturn before eventually disappearing from TV and settling into retirement. Nowadays he works in a backstage role as a road agent but has made scattered special WWE appearances on occasion.

[HappyGilmore]

Malenko was a great performer.  Big fan.

[JaseSF]

The Fabulous Freebirds join the Tag Teams Hall of Shame. Actually the Freebirds were super over in World Class Championship Wrestling in their heyday drawing enormous heat while feuding with Kerry, Kevin, David and Mike Von Erich. But they also started hearing some cheers too as the Freebirds kind of made it seem cool to be bad and were perhaps one of the first cases of heels getting a surprisingly high number of cheers from the audience. They were the first team to come to the ring to rock 'n' roll music ("Free Bird" by Lynyrd Skynyrd and later "Badstreet U.S.A." performed by Hayes himself). They are perhaps most recognized to people on this board for their appearance at the beginning of Highlander.

The Fabulous Freebirds originally consisting of Michael "P.S." Hayes and Terry "Bamm Bamm" Gordy competed in Georgia Championship Wrestling and NWA Mid-America Wrestling. Eventually they added Buddy "Jack" Roberts to the group to form a then very unusual three-man gang type team with the special "Freebird" rule that any two men on the team could defend the tag gold they'd accumulated on any given night with usually the third man out on the floor. During this time, the Freebirds won 3 NWA National Tag Team titles, 2 NWA Mid-America Tag Team titles and one NWA Georgia Tag Team championship. Most often it would be Hayes and Gordy in the ring with Roberts on the floor during this period. Soon they moved on to World Class and began their infamous feud with the Von Erichs which one night featured Michael Hayes dressed as Santa Claus delivering a beatdown on Kerry Von Erich. There the Freebirds captured NWA American Tag Team titles, the WCCW Six-Man Tag Titles 6 times (albeit one of these had Iceman Parson as a replacement for Hayes). While in World Class, Terry Gordy also captured NWA American Heavyweight title and the NWA Knuckles Championship (Texas Version) while Buddy Roberts captured the WCCW Television title. While paired up with Gordy & Roberts, Parson also captured the WCWA Texas title. At one point, Gordy & Roberts began feuding with Hayes and added new members to their version of The Freebirds including Parsons and the Angel of Death. Eventually Parsons would form an off-shoot group called The Blackbirds.

In between their two WCCW stints, the Freebirds had a brief short-lived run in the WWF with Cyndi Lauper's manager David Wolff as their manager during the Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection. Their stay there would be short-lived however when the WWF wanted to split up the team. Soon they moved to the AWA where they mostly feuded with the Road Warriors in a red-hot feud eventually costing the Warriors their AWA tag team titles in a match with Freebird ally and future Freebird "Gorgeous" Jimmy Garvin and "Mr. Electricity" Steve Regal.

After WCCW, the Freebirds moved to Bill Watts' UWF promotion where they dominated. There they captured the Mid-South tag team titles twice and eventually would dominate the whole federation with Terry Gordy becoming the UWF Heavyweight champion and Roberts winning the UWF Television title with Hayes acting as a kind of manager for the two.

However when the UWF would be bought out by Jim Crockett in 1987, the Freebirds soon split off into separate directions with Hayes continuing on in the NWA briefly forming a tag team with Jimmy Garvin before moving back to World Class and competing on the independent scene while Terry Gordy travelled to Japan to compete and Roberts finished out the end of his career mostly in World Class putting together the Samoan Swat Team to feud with Hayes and new partner Steve Cox whom Hayes twice won WCCW tag gold with. Later Hayes and Steven Dane would form a team together.

In 1989, a new version of the Freebirds was formed in WCW featuring Hayes and new partner Jimmy "Jam" Garvin. Just prior to this Hayes had a brief reign as NWA United States champion defeating Lex Luger with more than a bit of help from Terry "Bamm Bamm" Gordy. Luger would shortly regain the title however. Hayes and Garvin would go on to have much success in WCW winning the WCW United States Tag Team titles twice and the WCW World Tag Team titles twice. During their time in WCW, Garvin & Hayes were briefly joined by Gordy but eventually the team would be changed considerably adding Sir Oliver Humperdink as "road manager" under the guise of Big Daddy Dink and also Diamond Dallas Page as manager. They were also briefly managed/accompanied by Little Richard Marley, a reinvented former enhancement guy Rocky King. Another third member would be added in the masked Fantasia/Badstreet (Brad Armstrong) who together with Hayes & Garvin would win the WCW Six-Man Tag titles. The group finished out their time as a team in the Global Wrestling Federation with the team of Hayes, Garvin & Gordy. During this time, Gordy & Garvin actually captured the GWF Tag Team titles.

Tazz joins the Singles Hall of Fame. After a long career of competing on the independent circuit as the bizarre and crazy Tazmaniac, Tazz decided to reinvent himself, shortening his name to Taz and taking on a more serious, almost MMA style approach to his matches. He would become the top man in ECW and remains one of their most impressive champions (There he captured the ECW World title twice, the ECW World Television title twice, the ECW World Tag Team titles three times and the FTW title, which he invented, twice). It would be ECW where Taz would cement his legend despite a long stint in the WWF/WWE where he mainly worked as an announcer after injuries forced him to the sidelines.

Early in his career, Tazz wrestled under the name Kid Krush. However it would be as the crazy face-painted almost lunatic like Tazmaniac that he would first taste title success winning the IWCCW Light Heavyweight title in 1991. On October 1993, he debuted as part of a tag team named The Tazmaniacs (with partner Jack Dick). However the team shortly broke up and he soon paired up instead with Kevin Sullivan with whom he won two ECW World Tag Team titles. The Tazmaniac also become a double champion for one night when he briefly captured the ECW World Television title on March 1994.  Soon Tazmaniac starting teaming with new partners eventually settling on Sabu whom he won another ECW World Tag Team title with. However Sabu would eventually be fired and Tazz would get put out of competition due to a serious neck injury.

Upon returning, the Tazmaniac was reinvented as the more serious Taz, managed by former referee Bill Alfonso. Taz now wore a black singlet and focusing on a more intense MMA inspired offense that included many suplexes eventually earning Taz the nickname "The Human Suplex Machine". He also added his MMA inspired Tazmission submission hold, a chokehold that forced his opponents to tap out. After feuding with 2 Cold Scorpion, Jason and former UFC veteran Paul Varelans, Taz focused on feuding with old partner Sabu eventually defeating him at ECW's first PPV Barely Legal with his Tazmisson. However during the match Alfonso turned on Taz and joined forces with Sabu and Rob Van Dam. Two months later, Taz defeated Shane Douglas for his second reign as ECW World Television champion before eventually dropping the title to Bam Bam Bigelow.

Following his TV title loss, Taz was elevated to main event status and began pursuing the ECW World Heavyweight title. However Douglas was injured at the time which led to Taz declaring himself the FTW Champion of the World using an old Television title painted orange which he eventually passed on to Sabu. When Douglas finally returned, Taz defeated him for the ECW World title. Taz held the ECW World title for nine months before being signed by the WWF and he dropped the title in a three way dance to Mike Awesome at Anarchy Rulz. During his last match in ECW, he put over rising star Rob Van Dam.

Tazz debuted in the WWF at the 2000 Royal Rumble impressively defeating the previously undefeated Kurt Angle. Just a few months into his WWF stint though, Tazz would be brought back to ECW as per a special agreement to defeat Mike Awesome for the ECW World title as Awesome had just signed a contract with WCW and was not allowed to take the ECW World title with him. Tazz held the ECW World title this second time, even displaying it on WWF programming including during a loss to WWF Champion Triple H, for ten days eventually dropping it to Tommy Dreamer who quickly passed it on to Justin Credible. After losing his ECW World title, Tazz began to pursue the WWF Intercontinental title but failed to capture it before moving on to a feud with Jerry "The King" Lawler eventually teaming with the returning Raven. During the Invasion angle, he became the voice of the ECW/WCW Alliance and eventually became a color commentator. He briefly worked as both wrestler and commentator teaming with Spike Dudley to win the WWF World Tag Team titles and holding the WWF Hardcore title three times.

Eventually he would turn to commentating full time first working on WWF Sunday Night Heat but eventually replacing a departed Jerry "The King" Lawler on WWF/WWE Smackdown! for several years before joining Joey Styles on commentary for WWE's relaunched ECW in 2006. In 2008 after walking out on the terrible Mike Adamle on ECW, he returned to WWE Smackdown! where he replaced a departing Mick Foley. After his WWE contract expired in April 2009, Tazz signed a deal with TNA where he works now as color commentator only briefly having an heel run as an adviser to Samoa Joe when he was a member of the Main Event Mafia.