Spoiler |
February 07th, 2024 04:09 GMT |
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Topics: 2 Replies: 2127
Member
Post: #1072146 PT: #16/26
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Everything VKM did in 1983 was to set the stage for the expansion. Couple of reasons why Afa was Backlunds opponent. Afa was familiar to Houston fans having held many different Southeast tag championships.
Afa was a credible challenger, having wrestled Backlund in MSG. VKM may not have trusted an opponent for Backlund who he was not familiar with.
Afa makes the WWF champion look good for the WWF invasion to com.
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Spoiler |
February 11th, 2024 02:29 GMT |
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Topics: 2 Replies: 2127
Member
Post: #1072520 PT: #18/26
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The WWF champion had too look strong regardless of who was wearing the belt. Hogan was still 7 months away and maybe not even in the picture in May.
What was the point of sending Backlund to Houston other than gage fans reaction to a WWF championship match?
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SHOOTER |
February 11th, 2024 04:17 GMT |
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Topics: 321 Replies: 2547
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Post: #1072534 PT: #19/26
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This message was edited by SHOOTER on February 11th, 2024 04:20 GMT
I agree the WWF champ had to look strong but to me it doesn't look like Vince had Backlund wrestle there in Houston to gage the fans reaction to a WWF championship match.. I say that because Vince didn't have Backlund go to Mid South, World Class, Portland, AWA, etc. to gage reactions and I'm sure he planned to invade those territories too.. I could be wrong but I thnk it was more of a favor to Paul Boesch than anything else.
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Topics: 1 Replies: 144
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Post: #1072660 PT: #20/26
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Vince went into Houston on his own before he and Paul began working together in 1987. Everything he did was calculated. He even fooled the other promoters into sending him footage from their territories to air on the early episodes of All American Wrestlinge, all the while plotting against them.
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Topics: 2521 Replies: 17960
Member
Post: #1072663 PT: #21/26
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Vince told Crockett, Von Erich, Graham, Watts, and others that he was going to showcase their stars on cable TV and they surrendered their tapes to him. He was showcasing talent that he planned to bring to WWF.
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Topics: 601 Replies: 4064
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Post: #1072806 PT: #22/26
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Quoted from: SHOOTER, February 10th, 2024 17:28 GMTQuoted from: Spoiler, February 07th, 2024 04:09 GMTEverything VKM did in 1983 was to set the stage for the expansion. Couple of reasons why Afa was Backlunds opponent. Afa was familiar to Houston fans having held many different Southeast tag championships.
Afa was a credible challenger, having wrestled Backlund in MSG. VKM may not have trusted an opponent for Backlund who he was not familiar with.
Afa makes the WWF champion look good for the WWF invasion to com.
I can see some of those points like Afa being familiar to Houston fans and a credible challenger but I don't believe that Vince didn't trust an opponent for Backlund that he wasn't familiar with. Especially since he trusted people he wasn't familiar with to wrestle Backlund elsewhere.. As far as making the WWF champ look good for the invasion to come, only if Vince was planning to keep Backlund as champion when he eventually invaded but that isn't how it turned out but maybe he did originally think about it.
Yeah, I can see how this match would be perceived differently from the WWF to Houston. Not sure on the Vince trust issue.
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Spoiler |
February 14th, 2024 23:22 GMT |
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Topics: 2 Replies: 2127
Member
Post: #1072809 PT: #23/26
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Backlund wrestling a WWF opponent in another territory is fine if the opponent was already wrestling in the territory.
But Backlund and Afa were both in the WWF at the time. Why bring his own opponent?
Did Backlund bring his own opponent in any other territory
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Topics: 2521 Replies: 17960
Member
Post: #1073078 PT: #25/26
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Good call, bhayes67. Did not think about that. Blanchard claimed in late 1982 that he had the undisputed world champion.
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Spoiler |
February 19th, 2024 16:51 GMT |
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Topics: 2 Replies: 2127
Member
Post: #1073096 PT: #26/26
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Bringing in Backlund for a one and done doesn't pop the crowd for the next show
Booking Backlund against the Houston number 1 heel and having the heel lose by dq would elevate the heel as the wrestler who took it to the champion.
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