Rock 'n' Wrestling!

The online edition of the awesome quarterly column in PORK Magazine! Follow me as I explore the history of televised professional wrestling! Reblog for all of your friends! Enjoy footage and images from wrestling's Golden Age until now!

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R.I.P. to the greatest AWA world heavyweight champion of all time.

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We’ll be back.

Gonna take some time off to adjust to a new work schedule that has been taking me away from putting in proper time on Rock ‘n’ Wrestling. Rest assured that I have no intention whatsoever to stop working on this blog and will be back sooner than later. Please feel free to continue following, liking, and reblogging these posts! Thanks everyone!

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Schoolly D was gangsta rap before the term was invented and he threw down the gauntlet with “I Don’t Like Rock ‘n’ Roll” on his first album back in 1985! Schoolly D raps about how rock ‘n’ roll is a thing of the past and that rap is the future of music! He plans on bringing the fight to the front lines to take out any “longhaired faggots” who get in his way! All the longhaired freaks had better be on guard because Schoolly plans to knock ‘em all out! I imagine that Run DMC and every other rap group who utilized electric guitars and rock band samples should probably have been on notice as well! 

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“I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll” by Joan Jett was a very important song to me as a little kid and played just as vital of a role as Devo’s “Whip It” video in sending me in the right musical direction! I enjoy this video too, in which Joan and the Blackhearts take over a neighborhood bar and deliver their message to an increasing audience of leather jacketed folks who look like they spend their nights at CBGB and Max’s Kansas City! Even at three years old, I knew that I wanted to hang out with these street-tough rockers because they seemed to have much more fun than the square bears who simply went to their 9-5 jobs! I love rock ‘n’ roll and I hope you do too!

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Sting takes on “Nature Boy” Buddy Landell on WCW television in November of 1990! Sting is the WCW world heavyweight champion, but his title will not be on the line today! Landell has the Stinger amused with his pre-match antics that bear more than a passing resemblance to Ric Flair! However, Sting will not find Buddy’s knife-edge chops amusing at all! Sting fires back with a barrage of blows and has Landell escaping the ring to regroup! Buddy wants a test of strength, but that is not a good idea when you are comparing muscle with the Stinger! Sting forces the Nature Boy to the mat and then stomps on his hands for good measure! Landell does what he can to try to gain an advantage, but Sting thwarts his every attempt! He is able to get momentum on his side by going downstairs after Sting’s surgically-repaired knee! Buddy wrenches away at Sting’s leg, even using the ropes for leverage out of the referee’s view! Landell takes a page from Ric Flair’s book by going for the figure-four leglock! Sting manages to turn over to reverse the hold, but Landell grabs the ropes for a break! Landell drops a double axehandle from the turnbuckles, but only gets a two-count! Sting suddenly fires up for a comeback and quickly pins Landell after delivering a Stinger splash, but what’s this eerie music playing over the PA speakers? Could it be? Yes, it is the Black Scorpion taunting Sting about their upcoming encounter at the Clash of the Champions! We’ve got his minions attempting to enter the ring as well! Suddenly, the referee takes off his shirt and attempts to strangle the Stinger! I can’t believe this! Even the referee is susceptible to the Black Scorpion’s wishes! Lex Luger, Brian Pillman, and the Z-Man arrive on the scene to clear the Black Scorpion’s minions from ringside! Sting runs off the referee! What’s going to happen when Sting meets the Black Scorpion face-to-face at the Clash?

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Rowdy Roddy Piper makes his in-ring debut on WWF television tag teaming with “Dr. D” David Schultz against John Callahan and Frankie Williams in February of 1984! Piper had been making waves as the rebel manager of Dr. D and Paul Orndorff for the past month and everyone is interested to see what he can do in the ring! Roddy pounces on John Callahan and beats him down with punches before attacking Frankie Williams on the ring apron! He tags in the good Doctor, who downs Callahan with a throat thrust! Piper comes back in and bashes Callahan’s head into the mat! Roddy takes him down with a gutwrench suplex and could easily pin him right now, but he wants to continue the punishment! Piper makes a point to attack Williams again, who hasn’t even officially entered the match! Callahan is wrapped up in a sleeper hold and that is all she wrote! One has to wonder what Roddy Piper is capable of on his own, but I imagine that we will find out very soon!

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Judas Priest plays “Electric Eye” live in Nashville in 1982! Wrestling is a lot like a heavy metal concert at times and who espouses metal’s bombast better than Judas Priest? You should not be surprised to know that Priest songs have been used for entrance music in wrestling, particularly when the Rockers first came aboard the WWF to the tune of “Living After Midnight”! I happily crossed Judas Priest off of my bucket list several years ago, in which they were every bit as good as I hoped they would be! I’m made of metal and my circuits gleam! I am perpetual! I keep the country clean!

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Enjoy the Plasmatics appearing on the German music TV show Musikladen (formerly known as Beat-Club) in 1981! Wendy and the boys perform three of the classics from New Hope for the Wretched - “Living Dead,” “Butcher Baby,” and their cover of Bobby Darin’s “Dream Lover” - and show the German viewing audience just what they are all about! Wendy chainsaws her way through a guitar before smashing a TV and a BMW with a sledgehammer! You might guess that she blows up the car as her finale! Fantastic! Punk as fuck and totally rock ‘n’ roll!

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Andre the Giant, Dusty Rhodes, and the Junkyard Dog team up against Ernie Ladd and the Wild Samoans on Mid-South television circa April 1981! Look at the crowd get up on their feet and start dancing when “Another One Bites the Dust” hits the PA speakers! Dusty starts off against Sika - the camera work makes it hard to figure out which one - and gets a headbutt for his troubles! However, he simply introduces Sika’s head to JYD’s noggin for a result that he wants! Junkyard Dog tags in and levels Sika with a forearm! Andre tags in and takes on both Samoans by himself! Afa finds himself alone with Andre and runs right into that huge rear end of his to knock the wind right out of his sails! Afa tags Ernie Ladd and this is the confrontation that the Mid-South fans want to see - the Big Cat and Andre! Ladd uses the trunks for leverage so he can back Andre into the ropes, but the Eighth Wonder of the World nails him with a chop that puts the Big Cat on his keister! Unfortunately, Andre gets trapped in the corner and triple-teamed by the Big Cat and the Samoans! That has to be their strategy - isolate the biggest man on the other team and take him down! Andre manages to fight his way through all three men and tags in Dusty Rhodes! Dusty takes the fight to Ladd! He brings him down to the mat and drops several bionic elbows across his leg! Dusty tags in the Junkyard Dog, who easily takes the Big Cat over with a snapmare! JYD drops a big headbutt on the prone Ladd and tags in Andre! Ladd tags in Afa, who is immediately booted right in the face! Andre goes for the cover, but the Big Cat breaks it up with a legdrop across the back of the Giant’s neck! All six combatants enter the fray as the Wild Samoans bodyslam Andre with every bit of strength they can muster! JYD and Dusty clear the ring of Samoan opposition and give the Big Cat a backdrop! Andre takes to the second turnbuckle to deliver a massive splash to Ladd for the three-count! Andre the Giant, Dusty Rhodes, and the Junkyard Dog are victorious and the Mid-South faithful roars their approval!

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Bring back the ice cream bars! They were so good! I know I cannot be the only one who hoped they were making a comeback when C.M. Punk started asking “...and where is my WWE ice cream bar?” during his “pipe bomb” promos!

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Japanese hardcore legends Gauze unleash the distort at 924 Gilman Street in September of 1996! I was at this show and I still rate it as my favorite punk show of all time! Although the footage is not the best, it is the only video in existence of this historical show! I will always tell people that seeing Gauze was like all of the old stories I have heard and read about seeing the Bad Brains for the first time! This gig’s lineup - Gauze, Assfort, Dead and Gone, Spazz, and Eldopa - would draw over a thousand people now! 

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Slade plays “Cum on Feel the Noize” on Top of the Pops in 1973! I bet it was a lot of fun being there and rockin’ out to Noddy and the boys! Slade were one of the finest rock ‘n’ roll bands of the 1970s! They were a huge influence on both KISS and Cheap Trick! Quiet Riot did a cheesy cover of this song in the ‘80s, but it does the trick of turning people on to the original! Most Slade fans I know got there because of that cover! Feel the noize! Listen to Slade!

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Looks like the aftermath of a rougher-than-usual day at the office for Perro Aguayo! Aguayo always specialized in bloody bouts, but this mask vs. mask match against lucha libre legend El Santo in 1975 apparently got way out of hand! Dia de los Muertos, everyone...

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The Undertaker clashes with the Ultimate Warrior in a body bag match on a WWF event at Madison Square Garden in January of 1991! Fans had seen the Dead Man seal his opponents in the dreaded body bag after each match, in which the Ultimate Warrior was just one of his many victims! Time for the Ultimate Warrior to try giving him a taste of his own medicine! Warrior grabs the Undertaker’s leg and yanks him out of the ring before the bell! He tears into the Phenom with a vengeance, slamming his head into the ring steps! ‘Taker meets the ringpost as well! They get into the ring where the Ultimate Warrior continues to unleash a flurry of shots on the Undertaker! However, they don’t seem to have any effect on him! Warrior appears to be getting psyched out by the Dead Man’s resistance to pain! Undertaker catches the Warrior on a corner charge and downs him with a flying clothesline! ‘Taker chokes the Warrior out in the corner as manager Paul Bearer looks on in approval! Ultimate Warrior manages to duck a clothesline attempt and scoops the Undertaker up into a bodyslam! Unfortunately, he gets booted right in the face on another corner charge! Undertaker misses an elbow drop, but so does the Warrior! Ultimate Warrior catches the Dead Man charging into the corner and drops him with a piledriver! However, the Undertaker simply gets right back to his feet! Another piledriver achieves the same effect, but the third attempt keeps the Phenom down! Ultimate Warrior goes for a big splash, but dives right into the Undertaker’s hand! Undertaker delivers a vicious tombstone piledriver and I think this might be the end of the Ultimate Warrior! He prepares to seal the Warrior inside the body bag! He nearly has the bag sealed when the Ultimate Warrior comes back and fights his way out! Can the Ultimate Warrior regain momentum and stuff the Undertaker in the body bag? Has the Undertaker gained enough of a psychological advantage to win this match?

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Happy Halloween, everyone! Let’s celebrate by watching the Cramps play at the California State Mental Hospital in June of 1978! I figure that this would suffice for not being able to go see the Cramps live on Halloween anymore! Punk clubs didn’t exactly exist back in the ‘70s like they do now, so bands had to play wherever they could. Crime played an infamous show at San Quentin State Prison and that is certainly appropriate for them! Just as appropriate would be a show at a mental hospital featuring the Cramps and early San Francisco punk legends the Mutants! Lux Interior doesn’t care that he is not playing for typical punk rock scenesters and I imagine that everyone in the Cramps was quite amused by the circumstances. Lux is certainly up for a good rock ‘n’ roll time with the mental patients, who are clearly having a lot of fun! I’d like to see punk bands of today step out of their comfort zones and play at off-the-wall places like psychiatric wards, but I imagine that those days are long gone. How many people in the crowd do you think went on to be big Cramps fans or part of the punk scene? This was released by Target Video in 1984.

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Urban Struggle documents the hardcore punk scene coalescing around the Cuckoo’s Nest, a punk club located in Costa Mesa. Apparently the Cuckoo’s Nest was the birthplace of slam dancing, but it also shared a parking lot with a redneck bar called Zubie’s. Naturally, the punks and the cowboy regulars at Zubie’s clashed on a regular basis. You might also guess that the Cuckoo’s Nest was regularly harassed by the police, which led to numerous legal battles to keep the club open so punk bands would have a place to play. Urban Struggle touches upon all of this, but also has fantastic black and white footage of three of Southern California’s all-time best punk bands - Black Flag, the Circle Jerks, and TSOL! Watch this, for it captures hardcore punk rock when it was still dangerous and not the hipster joke that it is today!

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Michael Hayes and Terry Gordy of the Fabulous Freebirds defend the World Class American tag team championship against Kerry Von Erich and Bruiser Brody at Star Wars in June of 1983! Brody is in Texas to aid the Von Erichs in their war against the Freebirds and he plans on helping Kerry wrest the American tag team titles from their grasp! Hayes grabs the microphone from ring announcer Marc Lowrance and puts up his hair in a challenge to Iceman King Parsons, who took Freebird Buddy Roberts’ blonde locks in a recent match! Gordy locks up with Kerry to start and quickly finds an opening! He quickly tags in Hayes, who goes to town on the Modern Day Warrior! Kerry tries to fight back, but the Freebirds clearly plan to keep him on their side of the ring with quick tags in and out! Kerry is able to rebound and tag in Bruiser Brody, who takes on both Freebirds by himself! Hayes and Gordy somehow manage to rebound and take it to Brody, but it isn’t long at all before he rises up and tags Kerry back into the match! All four combatants battle it out in the ring! Can the Freebirds pull a rabbit out of their hat and retain the American tag team titles? Will Kerry Von Erich and Bruiser Brody prove to be too much to handle, thus ensuring them a title victory?