Johnny Lawrence - Cobra Kai
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Post by Johnny Lawrence - Cobra Kai on Jun 2, 2010 7:20:39 GMT -5
23 years ago today, one of the most infamous title reigns in history began in Buffalo, NY.
A champion who had won his belt a few months before in the blowoff to one of the WWF's most legendary feuds -- and in one of the greatest matches, too -- suddenly and unceremoniously lost his belt to a mildly annoying midcarder who, up to that point, had not been much more than a gimmick.
That gimmicky midcarder went on the enjoy the longest Intercontinental title reign of all time, in a record that still stands today.
On June 2, 1987, The Honky Tonk Man defeated Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat at a weekly WWF TV taping to win the IC title.
I was a huge Steamboat mark at the time -- hell, most people were, since he was coming off his biggest WWF win. I was totally confused and bummed when I saw that match on TV, although Honky did turn out to be a pretty fun heel during that run.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 2, 2010 10:57:06 GMT -5
Honky did his job well.we couldnt wait to see him get beat and when it did happen it instantly "made" Ultimate Warrior.
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Post by K5 on Jun 2, 2010 11:51:20 GMT -5
could never stand watching honky tonk, one of my most hated wrestlers. up there with ed leslie.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 2, 2010 22:10:42 GMT -5
As a southern-style wrestling fan, Honky Tonk was one of those goofy WWF things that made it hard for me to watch. Honky always had "go away" heat with me. I would see him and just wonder, "Why?" But Vince knows his crowd. Honky Tonk Man is a legit legend to a lot of fans.
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Post by Emerald Enthusiast on Jun 2, 2010 23:47:57 GMT -5
I remember this quite well and it was a shocker without a doubt. Steamboat was a huge fan fav at the time and his WM3 win over Savage seemed like it was the start of something big for him.
As a kid, I loathed HTM. Elvis impersonators can be annoying and WWE did a good job creating a grating character.
As I've become an adult, I have mixed feelings on Honky. He was skillful on the mic and had some memorable mannerisms. However, he was bland and slow in the ring. Behind the scenes, it seems that he was very hard to work with and overvalued himself to an insane degree.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 3, 2010 5:22:02 GMT -5
I have heard on several interviews that Vince was furious with Steamboat for wanting out of the IC title.
his losing to Honky was a kind of punishment by Vince.
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Johnny Lawrence - Cobra Kai
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Post by Johnny Lawrence - Cobra Kai on Jun 3, 2010 9:23:45 GMT -5
I have heard on several interviews that Vince was furious with Steamboat for wanting out of the IC title. his losing to Honky was a kind of punishment by Vince. I've heard that many times as well. On one hand, I totally can't fault Steamboat for wanting to spend time with his wife after the birth of their first child. On the other hand, WWF/E wrestlers have traditionally not taken large chunks of time off for the births of their kids (and they certainly haven't asked out of a major push because of it), so I can understand Vince McMahon being a little miffed. In the end, I guess Ricky did what he had to do, and Vince responded the way he had to... in their own ways, they were both making the right decision. |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 3, 2010 10:20:41 GMT -5
I have heard on several interviews that Vince was furious with Steamboat for wanting out of the IC title. his losing to Honky was a kind of punishment by Vince. I've heard that many times as well. On one hand, I totally can't fault Steamboat for wanting to spend time with his wife after the birth of their first child. On the other hand, WWF/E wrestlers have traditionally not taken large chunks of time off for the births of their kids (and they certainly haven't asked out of a major push because of it), so I can understand Vince McMahon being a little miffed. In the end, I guess Ricky did what he had to do, and Vince responded the way he had to... in their own ways, they were both making the right decision. yeah its hard to argue with either mans point of view.as you correctly say Steamboat was entitked to spend time with his family...... but in accepting the IC title from Vince(whic was a big deal then)Steamboat made a commitment-plus he knew the plans Vince had for him. its catch 22 really...... |
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nibs92
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Post by nibs92 on Jun 3, 2010 10:57:43 GMT -5
now correct me if i'm wrong but i believe honky wasn't even the first choice to beat steamboat, which makes his run even more special!
it was meant to be butch reed but he missed the show so vince decided to run with HTM!
it was in an issue of powerslam around about the time edge beat mr kennedy for the money in the bank briefcase. i'm not sure if you read joker?
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Post by Deleted on Jun 3, 2010 13:08:02 GMT -5
now correct me if i'm wrong but i believe honky wasn't even the first choice to beat steamboat, which makes his run even more special! it was meant to be butch reed but he missed the show so vince decided to run with HTM! it was in an issue of powerslam around about the time edge beat mr kennedy for the money in the bank briefcase. i'm not sure if you read joker? yeah I get Powerslam every month-top magazine IMO. the Butch Reed thing is murky.........some say Reed was never in contention including Reed himself. in his shoot he says that when he arrived there the whole place was a buzz about who was gonna get the title.....and that everyone was talking about how mad Vince was but he says getting the title on him never came up. the rumor about him no showing that event is defo untrue-he can be seen in the background with the other heels celebrating Honkys win. |
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Post by marino13 on Jun 3, 2010 20:45:39 GMT -5
I never understood the reasoning for this. That and his loss to Valentine in the first round or WM4 are two of the more confusing things to ever happen in the 80's.
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Johnny Lawrence - Cobra Kai
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Post by Johnny Lawrence - Cobra Kai on Jun 4, 2010 11:11:11 GMT -5
I never understood the reasoning for this. That and his loss to Valentine in the first round or WM4 are two of the more confusing things to ever happen in the 80's. Agreed on the loss to Valentine. By 1988, Valentine was pretty irrelevant despite his name value. When I saw Steamboat had to wrestle him in the first round, I (and probably other fans) assumed it was a slam-dunk for Steamboat to advance to the next round. |
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Post by marino13 on Jun 4, 2010 12:33:21 GMT -5
I never understood the reasoning for this. That and his loss to Valentine in the first round or WM4 are two of the more confusing things to ever happen in the 80's. Agreed on the loss to Valentine. By 1988, Valentine was pretty irrelevant despite his name value. When I saw Steamboat had to wrestle him in the first round, I (and probably other fans) assumed it was a slam-dunk for Steamboat to advance to the next round. And the Steamboat victory would have lead to a rematch between him and Savage. Which would have been an excellent way to build Savage up even more by having him revenge the WM3 loss. Dumb move on Vince's part.  |
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Post by Sam Hain on Jun 4, 2010 21:54:51 GMT -5
I remember when I heard about the switch. I was at a kids theme park proudly wearing my Randy Savage shirt. A guy that worked there asked me if I was a Macho Man fan, and I said yeah, but I was happy that Steamboat beat him and got revenge for the throat thing. The guy dropped the bombshell on me that Honky won it on Superstars the previous weekend. I spent the rest of the day telling my parents that I didn't believe the guy. Even at that age, I didn't understand how Honky could have beaten someone as great as Steamboat.
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Post by steel on Jun 6, 2010 11:43:04 GMT -5
23 years ago today, one of the most infamous title reigns in history began in Buffalo, NY. A champion who had won his belt a few months before in the blowoff to one of the WWF's most legendary feuds -- and in one of the greatest matches, too -- suddenly and unceremoniously lost his belt to a mildly annoying midcarder who, up to that point, had not been much more than a gimmick. That gimmicky midcarder went on the enjoy the longest Intercontinental title reign of all time, in a record that still stands today. On June 2, 1987, The Honky Tonk Man defeated Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat at a weekly WWF TV taping to win the IC title. I was a huge Steamboat mark at the time -- hell, most people were, since he was coming off his biggest WWF win. I was totally confused and bummed when I saw that match on TV, although Honky did turn out to be a pretty fun heel during that run. Good times man..thanks for posting this. It really makes me happy to see this portion of the forum. |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 7, 2010 13:06:06 GMT -5
Agreed on the loss to Valentine. By 1988, Valentine was pretty irrelevant despite his name value. When I saw Steamboat had to wrestle him in the first round, I (and probably other fans) assumed it was a slam-dunk for Steamboat to advance to the next round. And the Steamboat victory would have lead to a rematch between him and Savage. Which would have been an excellent way to build Savage up even more by having him revenge the WM3 loss. Dumb move on Vince's part. extremely.I was shocked to see Steamboat go down to Valentine too |
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