Opinions on Wrestling Shoots.

[Swamps]

This thread is going to be dedicated to our opinions shoots that our conducted by wrestlers, either in interviews, webcasts, or in the ring. Talk about whatever type of shoot you choose.

One of my hobbies I like to do when I’m bored is watch shoot videos and interviews on Youtube. A lot of these shoots are usually web based interviews where a wrestler gives his or her opinion on subjects… mainly other wrestlers.

Over the years, one of the more vocal shooters has been the Honkytonk man. It appears as if this man has something to say about every wrestler that has ever stepped inside of the ring. In one of his shoots he goes off on Jake Roberts because Jake said that HTM hit him with a guitar that caused his spine injury. HTM goes on to say that the guitar was a gimmick guitar and there was no way his hit across The Snake’s skull could have caused the injury, but the HTM goes on to say if he ever gets the chance he would hit him again. I saw the hit myself and I don’t think that it was a gimmick guitar, but since Jake The Snake didn’t bring up or complain about the injury for almost two years later, HTM may have some credibility.

Other wrestlers, mainly Hulk Hogan, have stated in the past that HTM is just trying to stay relevant and has been saying a lot of lies to keep in the eye of the public. I can see where Hogan is coming from, but Honkytonk man is very entertaining in his shoots.

In a recent interview with HTM, he shot on his former tag team partner, Greg “The Hammer†Valentine. HTM was saying that the tag team Rhythm and Blues were going to win the tag team championship from The Hart Foundation and get a decent push as a top heel tag team. As we all know this never happened and both wrestlers were fired. HTM went on to place blame on The Hammer because he claimed Hammer refused to dye his hair for the gimmick. This is a bunch of garbage because you can watch old matches and see Valentine dyed his hair and took the gimmick seriously by carrying a guitar himself and dancing around the ring. This is the one interview that killed a little credibility of HTM’s shoots with myself. Its also odd that they did a shoot interview together at an autograph signing in 1998 and brought up the fact that neither new why they were fired because they did everything that was asked of them for the tag team.

Anyway, I will post more after you guys shed some light on your opinions.

 

[Horrorfan_1986]

The only thing is Valentine wasn't fired due to Rhythm and Blues failing. In fact, once Honky was forced to either become a commentator or be let go, Valentine received a nice little midcard babyface push. Valentine's push simply didn't work out because he wasn't a very good babyface. So after months of being depushed into just being a lowcarder, he was released well over a year after R&B were disbanded.

As for why the team never won the tag titles, I have to question if they were ever going to win the belts. It is true they had a program against the Hart Foundation in late 1990. However, the plan for a long time was for the Rockers to defeat the Hart Foundation and then for Power & Glory to defeat them. Two things happened though. McMahon decided against firing Jim Neidhart (Part of the reason why Harts would drop the belts to the Rockers) and you saw an incoming of new teams (Legion of Doom and Nasty Boys). So all of those other teams hoping to get the belts were bypassed for McMahon's new favorite toys.

Really though, it's highly doubtful R&B were ever going to win the belts because they didn't work well together. The gimmick was just not Valentine and it was really noticeable.

 

[Swamps]

You bring up valid points. Like I said, I doubted a lot of HTM’s shoot’s credibility but they do provide hilarious entertainment. Its also documented both wrestlers did tend to have backstage issues. Valentine never really got out of the doghouse after the whole not wanting to team with Dino Bravo thing came up, However, that is simply just my opinion with that. WWE was nice enough to use him sporadically over the years. Even used Valentine as the Blue Knight at that one Survivor Series. He was the only wrestler on that team, aside from HBK, who wasn’t a jobber. (Say what you want, Horowitz is still a damn jobber!) So, maybe his heat wasn’t as bad as I may think it was. Anyway, I’m rambling on…

Back to shoots, has anyone ever really listened to any of New Jack’s rants? The man is hilarious and crazy at the same time. If there is a bipolar wrestler out there it is this guy. He actually brags about the Mass Transit Incident. As a matter of fact, RVD said in one of his shoots he disliked New Jack and thought lowly of him because of his comments the night of the Mass Transit Incident. RVD said that New Jack was in the back bragging about cutting the kid and stating he hoped he died.

Anyway, New Jack has bragged about stabbing the Indy wrestler down in Florida and even bragged about beating an 80 year old Gypsy Joe senseless during another Indy Show. Also I’m sure we are all aware of the Vic Grimms fall at the XPW show. New Jack has even stated he tried to Kill Vic. Although, he may have been in character when he said that. Plus, I think the Scaffold fall was planned but the way the landing occurred wasn’t planned. I just don’t know how anyone could actually do the things he has got away with and not see any kind of jail time. Well, real jail time.

 

[FalconPunch]

Rythem and Blues were shit. I can't watch Greg Valentine matches back though, I swear he wrestles in slow motion.

 

[Fuji Vice]

Rythem and Blues were shit. I can't watch Greg Valentine matches back though, I swear he wrestles in slow motion.

It was just a different time period, but Valentine had a lot of solid matches in the 80's, particularly with Tito Santana.

 

[FalconPunch]

Nothing to do with a time period. in the 80's, Dynamite Kid and Tiger Mask tore up Madison Square Garden in ballistic fashion. Ted Dibiase was tearing up Mid South, Hansen and Brody were working up a storm in Japan. Hogan, Savage and Piper were working colorful matches on top in NY, and Steamboat and Flair were setting standards in Atlanta

Greg Valentine, much like his Father, was just boring. That's why he fizzled out soon enough and was treated as a joke by the WWF in his last years, and once he was let go, nobody wanted him, to the extent he was working barb wire matches in Japan for a payday in the 90's.

 

[Fuji Vice]

Greg Valentine, much like his Father, was just boring. That's why he fizzled out soon enough and was treated as a joke by the WWF in his last years, and once he was let go, nobody wanted him, to the extent he was working barb wire matches in Japan for a payday in the 90's.

Right, I guess I just see it differently, because I found a lot to enjoy with his matches against Santana. Also, who could forget the dog collar match with Piper? I've been watching wrestling since the early 80's, so as I say, it's probably just a matter of tastes being different. One of my favourite wrestlers of all time is The Destroyer, and I highly doubt most people would say he wrestled an "exciting" style.

 

[Horrorfan_1986]

Greg Valentine, much like his Father, was just boring. That's why he fizzled out soon enough and was treated as a joke by the WWF in his last years, and once he was let go, nobody wanted him, to the extent he was working barb wire matches in Japan for a payday in the 90's.

Valentine hardly fizzled out. The guy was working in the WWE for nearly nine years during one of their biggest peaks. Not to mention McMahon gave Valentine his big push right as the WWE was breaking out of New York. After being one of the bigger WWE stars of the 80's, Valentine saw a depush in the 90's. It's pretty natural as new guys like Perfect, Bret, Warrior, Martel, Earthquake, ect were coming in and were the hot new pushes for McMahon. Still, McMahon still found time to try out one last push for Valentine before he left. What happened when he left? He immediately got a job in WCW and was given a title. Truth be told, Valentine's run in WCW then may have worked out better had things not been a mess backstage and Bill Watts came in as the new boss, just a few months into Valentine's contract. Even by the late nineties and in the middle of the Monday Night Wars, Valentine was staring 50 up ahead, but he still managed to get booked by WCW TV on a fairly regular basis.

As far as the whole barbed wire matches go, Terry Funk and Mick Foley were doing the same thing. So it's not some big blow to your ego.

 

[FalconPunch]

Didn't hardly fizzle out? I remember him working a PPV under a hood as a random "knight" at Survivor Series 1993...

 

[Fuji Vice]

Didn't hardly fizzle out? I remember him working a PPV under a hood as a random "knight" at Survivor Series 1993...

Wasn't he in the 1994 Royal Rumble for awhile? If so, he definitely wasn't wearing a hood then.

 

[JakeYourBooty]

How is being on PPVs for 9 years fizzling out?

 

[Horrorfan_1986]

Didn't hardly fizzle out? I remember him working a PPV under a hood as a random "knight" at Survivor Series 1993...

Yes, they needed someone for a random one night deal so they called Valentine. Valentine, who had spent a year in WCW, was a champion there, was now free. So, he came in, worked the PPV and that's it. It's not like the Blue Knight was a reoccurring character or anything, so it's not a sign of Valentine fizzling out.

 

[FalconPunch]

Yes, they needed someone for a random one night deal so they called Valentine. Valentine, who had spent a year in WCW, was a champion there, was now free. So, he came in, worked the PPV and that's it. It's not like the Blue Knight was a reoccurring character or anything, so it's not a sign of Valentine fizzling out.

LOL

You think they'd have Bret Hart, Steve Austin or Hogan doing something like that? Hell no. They can do it with somebody like Valentine because nobody cares, and Valentine will go along with it because he didn't have options.

Did you know, about two years ago he was wrestling backyard wrestling shows run by kids? The videos were online. Is that fizzling out?

How is being on PPVs for 9 years fizzling out?

That's like saying, how are the Spice Girls not relevant, becasue they were hot in 1996. Jesus.

 

[Fuji Vice]

LOL

They can do it with somebody like Valentine because nobody cares, and Valentine will go along with it because he didn't have options.

Did you miss the part where he earlier mentioned that there were others in higher positions on the card when Valentine returned? It's not like taking one for the team and doing a random appearance under a hood is anything to be ashamed of or a sign of "fizzling out" as you say. Basically what you're trying to say is if creative doesn't have anything for you or you aren't in the spotlight, you've "fizzled out", which means that Antonio Cesaro should probably quit WWE now, right?

That's like saying, how are the Spice Girls not relevant, becasue they were hot in 1996. Jesus.

The Spice Girls didn't have a 20+ year career though, so this is kind of a silly example.

 

[Horrorfan_1986]

LOL

You think they'd have Bret Hart, Steve Austin or Hogan doing something like that? Hell no. They can do it with somebody like Valentine because nobody cares, and Valentine will go along with it because he didn't have options.

Did you know, about two years ago he was wrestling backyard wrestling shows run by kids? The videos were online. Is that fizzling out?.

The spot wasn't for some random guy though, it was for a Knight. Granted, it ended up being beyond stupid because Jerry Lawler was caught trying to have speed-a-date at a high school. Still, it wouldn't have made sense to had The Hammer to the match. They needed a faceless Knight as that's what they were hyping. Look at what happened two months later. They wanted to add a fun little surprise in the Royal Rumble, so they called Valentine for an one night appearance. That's relying on Valentine because he's a star. He was even in the match for a decent amount of time too. Several months later, they wanted to try out a legends show for a house show. Besides guys like Slaughter getting the chance to wrestle, the WWE also called Valentine.

So the whole idea he fizzled out isn't really true. He was just a guy no longer at his prime. By 1994, Valentine had already been in the business for twenty-four years. How many guys from the 70's still had a really important spot in wrestling by the mid 90's? There was Flair, Savage (But he didn't really get going until the 80's), Piper (Same thing as Savage), Kevin Sullivan (To some degree) and Terry Funk. Am I missing anyone? That's a mere 5 guys from the 70's (Most didn't even get going until the 80's). Meanwhile, Valentine is someone who was working World Title matches in MSG during the 70's.

So really, why would he still be some huge force in wrestling all of those years later?