Slick [RF Video Shoot Interview]
The Good
Some people are just fun-loving types and when they do a shoot interview, they can relax and entertain you with stories from the road. While I'll never consider those the best interviews, they are enjoyable. This was one of those. Slick, who fancies himself as the kind of guy who could be friends with everybody, comes across that way. This is a man who is straightforward about his issues with others and does not come across bitter. It seems like the way he conducts himself here is very telling of why he found both success and adversity in the pro-wrestling business. He entertains. He voices his opinions. He probably both amused and irritated Vince McMahon, which is why he got a chance, but never got pushed as strongly as he might've been.
The Bad
This interview had so much potential, specifically because of the Slickster's strong personality, but it was hampered greatly by RF Video stupidity. Sometimes these shoot interviews are done late at night and usually it does not adversely affect the interviewee or at least not in a painfully obvious way. This was the opposite. Slick was dozing off toward the end and having a hard time staying focused. Secondly, the main issue that RF wanted to tackle was racism in the business. That was pretty obvious. Now I'm not saying that it was wrong to have that goal because here was a black man who worked in a few territories that have been or one would suspect are racist hotbeds. Slick is outspoken on the matter and he really got into here. The drawback was the poor questioning. When the idea of pimps "symbolizing the culture" was thrown out there (mistake or not), it revealed how poorly planned these interviews are. Aside from that this was a relatively short (not the standard two hours), focused on a relatively short career (a little over a decade) and did not include much psychology. Slick was entertaining and honest, but he did not get himself over a great talent in my view.
The Rating: ***1/2
Monday, January 31, 2011
Friday, January 28, 2011
Brutus Beefcake [RF Video Shoot Interview]
The Good
The Honky Tonk Man has convinced me to think a little differently about Brutus Beefcake. The man who's often dismissed because of his limitations in the ring and lifelong friendship with Hulk Hogan is no different than a number of other pro-wrestling personalities. No one craps on Arn Anderson as being Ric Flair's "Beefcake" (as HTM put it) because he was a great worker, but the idea is the same. This shoot interview made it quite apparent that although Ed Leslie got his biggest breaks due to his friendship with Hulk Hogan, he worked hard himself for many years on the territories often without Hogan around or with Hogan being a midcarder as well. He was not particularly negative about people and had some unique perspectives to share. I would have liked to here him talk more about Hogan, but in trying to avoid the stigma of being Hogan's lackey, he seems to only say just enough. Many of his thoughts on the success of the WWF, the changes within the business and the declining WCW (which he accurately predicted would be dead in 2 years time) are astonishing for someone who is derided as a hanger-on with no real talent. I really enjoyed this.
The Bad
When you are the best friend of one of pro-wrestling's biggest stars and that person is not a major focal point of the interview, something is wrong. Yes, Brutus Beefcake was his own man. Yes, Brutus Beefcake had a career worth detailing. Yes, Hulk Hogan has done interviews, autobiographies and the like over the years. However, Brutus Beefcake has this first-hand perspective that is totally different than many other people. Hogan is one of the most notorious fabricators when talking about himself, so we need people who were with him to share the true details. Brutus does not do that. He gives a few things, but he does not really give that perspective that I hoped he might. Regardless, I nominate Brutus Beefcake for a Timeline of the WWF by Kayfabe Commentaries, perhaps 1988 or 1989?
The Rating: ***3/4
The Good
The Honky Tonk Man has convinced me to think a little differently about Brutus Beefcake. The man who's often dismissed because of his limitations in the ring and lifelong friendship with Hulk Hogan is no different than a number of other pro-wrestling personalities. No one craps on Arn Anderson as being Ric Flair's "Beefcake" (as HTM put it) because he was a great worker, but the idea is the same. This shoot interview made it quite apparent that although Ed Leslie got his biggest breaks due to his friendship with Hulk Hogan, he worked hard himself for many years on the territories often without Hogan around or with Hogan being a midcarder as well. He was not particularly negative about people and had some unique perspectives to share. I would have liked to here him talk more about Hogan, but in trying to avoid the stigma of being Hogan's lackey, he seems to only say just enough. Many of his thoughts on the success of the WWF, the changes within the business and the declining WCW (which he accurately predicted would be dead in 2 years time) are astonishing for someone who is derided as a hanger-on with no real talent. I really enjoyed this.
The Bad
When you are the best friend of one of pro-wrestling's biggest stars and that person is not a major focal point of the interview, something is wrong. Yes, Brutus Beefcake was his own man. Yes, Brutus Beefcake had a career worth detailing. Yes, Hulk Hogan has done interviews, autobiographies and the like over the years. However, Brutus Beefcake has this first-hand perspective that is totally different than many other people. Hogan is one of the most notorious fabricators when talking about himself, so we need people who were with him to share the true details. Brutus does not do that. He gives a few things, but he does not really give that perspective that I hoped he might. Regardless, I nominate Brutus Beefcake for a Timeline of the WWF by Kayfabe Commentaries, perhaps 1988 or 1989?
The Rating: ***3/4
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Wrestling Universe - Virgil
The Good
If you've ever seen the picture of Virgil waiting at an autography session with "WWF Superstar Virgil" above his head and not a soul in sight…this shoot is the audio equivalent of that. If you like shoot interview that are serious, informative and straightforward, you might want to avoid this. Now I do not want to totally mock the accomplishments and career of Mike Jones, but I have to scratch my head at a great number of things he says here. Perhaps I should be writing about these things as negatives, but they made this interview hilarious. Comments like "why are you massaging his feet like a prick?," "I hate the hell out of snakes" and "you ain't jackshit unless you sellout that Garden" are just a few morsels of this buffet of ridiculousness. Jones, who alludes to a past as a collegiate standout at the University of Virginia as well as a past as a Golden Gloves boxer, which probably explains why he did not back down from Dan Severn when the two alleged went at it and it goes on from there. He was, at best, a peripheral talent, who got hooked up with Ted Dibiase, the nWo and such and was able to reach a level of success that he never could have achieved on his pure talents alone. It is interesting (and that is an understatement) to hear him talk about his career, but take everything with a grain of salt.
The Bad
I could easily pull out a few statements that Mike Jones made and quickly refute them. I could easily point out some erroneous facts and figures. I could easily paint Mike Jones as a self-important asshole. But none of those things need to be done by me. The interview does it all simply in listening to it. He makes so many lofty claims that anyone with a little knowledge about his tenure in the WWF could see the BS. There are a number of things he mentions that jump out as false. He dresses the interviewer down on camera for lacking ability and confidence and although he's no Sean Oliver, the Wrestling Universe do a good job by my estimation.
The Rating: ***
The Good
If you've ever seen the picture of Virgil waiting at an autography session with "WWF Superstar Virgil" above his head and not a soul in sight…this shoot is the audio equivalent of that. If you like shoot interview that are serious, informative and straightforward, you might want to avoid this. Now I do not want to totally mock the accomplishments and career of Mike Jones, but I have to scratch my head at a great number of things he says here. Perhaps I should be writing about these things as negatives, but they made this interview hilarious. Comments like "why are you massaging his feet like a prick?," "I hate the hell out of snakes" and "you ain't jackshit unless you sellout that Garden" are just a few morsels of this buffet of ridiculousness. Jones, who alludes to a past as a collegiate standout at the University of Virginia as well as a past as a Golden Gloves boxer, which probably explains why he did not back down from Dan Severn when the two alleged went at it and it goes on from there. He was, at best, a peripheral talent, who got hooked up with Ted Dibiase, the nWo and such and was able to reach a level of success that he never could have achieved on his pure talents alone. It is interesting (and that is an understatement) to hear him talk about his career, but take everything with a grain of salt.
The Bad
I could easily pull out a few statements that Mike Jones made and quickly refute them. I could easily point out some erroneous facts and figures. I could easily paint Mike Jones as a self-important asshole. But none of those things need to be done by me. The interview does it all simply in listening to it. He makes so many lofty claims that anyone with a little knowledge about his tenure in the WWF could see the BS. There are a number of things he mentions that jump out as false. He dresses the interviewer down on camera for lacking ability and confidence and although he's no Sean Oliver, the Wrestling Universe do a good job by my estimation.
The Rating: ***
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Torch Talk - Bulldog from `93
The Good
It is a funny to think how much things have changed since this interview from nearly two decades ago. Obviously, the face of pro-wrestling has changed and Davey Boy Smith has sadly passed away, but what struck me was how the nature of communication about pro-wrestling and the popularity of "dirt sheets" has changed. Wade Kellar is still around, but now these phone interview recorded on his answering machine that were transcribed for the Torch are now easy downloads and listens through new technology. In spite of all that, this was a stellar interview in a time before audio shoot interviews. Kellar knows his stuff and is pretty good about sneaking in some heavy questions as I've seen time and again.
The Bad
A loud beep every 15 seconds is a bit annoying and perhaps too maddening a distraction for some. Wade Kellar is much more smooth a talker than Dave Meltzer, but his wealth of knowledge is not as great. I suspect Dave would have done a vastly different interview, but perhaps not hammered some of the points such a steroids, drug abuse and all that quite as hard, if at all. Personally, I think Dave's obituary from the WON of Davey Boy Smith was better than this, yet this had the charm of Davey himself talking. At forty-five minutes the depth of this is respectable, but not as great as, say, an RF Video shoot generally-speaking. What I really missed and I imagine many others would have as well was the discussion of 1980s British wrestling, Stampede and Japan. Kellar hit on each of them, but perhaps in an effort to cater to his fans, kept those questions brief. One could probably complain because talk of his time in Wigan was so brief. Not to knit-pick because this predates the shoot interview era and was not originally intended for radio consumption, but it certainly had its flaws.
The Rating: ****
The Good
It is a funny to think how much things have changed since this interview from nearly two decades ago. Obviously, the face of pro-wrestling has changed and Davey Boy Smith has sadly passed away, but what struck me was how the nature of communication about pro-wrestling and the popularity of "dirt sheets" has changed. Wade Kellar is still around, but now these phone interview recorded on his answering machine that were transcribed for the Torch are now easy downloads and listens through new technology. In spite of all that, this was a stellar interview in a time before audio shoot interviews. Kellar knows his stuff and is pretty good about sneaking in some heavy questions as I've seen time and again.
The Bad
A loud beep every 15 seconds is a bit annoying and perhaps too maddening a distraction for some. Wade Kellar is much more smooth a talker than Dave Meltzer, but his wealth of knowledge is not as great. I suspect Dave would have done a vastly different interview, but perhaps not hammered some of the points such a steroids, drug abuse and all that quite as hard, if at all. Personally, I think Dave's obituary from the WON of Davey Boy Smith was better than this, yet this had the charm of Davey himself talking. At forty-five minutes the depth of this is respectable, but not as great as, say, an RF Video shoot generally-speaking. What I really missed and I imagine many others would have as well was the discussion of 1980s British wrestling, Stampede and Japan. Kellar hit on each of them, but perhaps in an effort to cater to his fans, kept those questions brief. One could probably complain because talk of his time in Wigan was so brief. Not to knit-pick because this predates the shoot interview era and was not originally intended for radio consumption, but it certainly had its flaws.
The Rating: ****
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Straight Shootin with Jushin "Thunder" Liger
The Good
There have not been a large number of shoot interviews done with Japanese and Mexican stars because, by in large, their English is limited, they don't break kayfabe and it just would not work out logistically. Shocker (who is actually from the US), Keiji Muto and a couple others have done interviews for English-speaking media in some capacity, but the results have been mixed. Here, Gabe Sapolsky sits down with Jushin Liger and translator Simon Inoki to look at the career of one of New Japan's most recognizable stars, a junior heavyweight icon and simply one of the greatest workers ever. It is interesting to hear about his brief training in Mexico as well as his extensive training in the New Japan Dojo. He gets into a lot of interesting details about the numerous legends of New Japan and puroresu. Who knew El Samurai was a chain smoker? Or that Keiji Muto was as bizarre as his Great Muta character? Or that tough guy Yoshiaki Fujiwara was real laid-back when he was not beating the hell out of young boys? Jushin Liger gets into some neat details that you'd never hear otherwise, so this interview is worth checking out if you are a puroresu fan.
The Bad
Shoot interviews full of kayfabe can be intolerably bad and Liger gives many responses swimming in it. If this was not such a unique interview, I would certainly say that kills the quality of this. A major downside of this is the time spent translating back-and-fourth. I think, although it would have made this shorter (more like one hour as opposed to two), that dubbing this with subtitles would have been better all around. The documentary, Blood-Stained Memories, did this with Keiji Muto and it preserved a lot of the personality in his responses. It seems like not much ground was actually covered and the questions are pretty generic and dull.
The Rating: ***1/2
The Good
There have not been a large number of shoot interviews done with Japanese and Mexican stars because, by in large, their English is limited, they don't break kayfabe and it just would not work out logistically. Shocker (who is actually from the US), Keiji Muto and a couple others have done interviews for English-speaking media in some capacity, but the results have been mixed. Here, Gabe Sapolsky sits down with Jushin Liger and translator Simon Inoki to look at the career of one of New Japan's most recognizable stars, a junior heavyweight icon and simply one of the greatest workers ever. It is interesting to hear about his brief training in Mexico as well as his extensive training in the New Japan Dojo. He gets into a lot of interesting details about the numerous legends of New Japan and puroresu. Who knew El Samurai was a chain smoker? Or that Keiji Muto was as bizarre as his Great Muta character? Or that tough guy Yoshiaki Fujiwara was real laid-back when he was not beating the hell out of young boys? Jushin Liger gets into some neat details that you'd never hear otherwise, so this interview is worth checking out if you are a puroresu fan.
The Bad
Shoot interviews full of kayfabe can be intolerably bad and Liger gives many responses swimming in it. If this was not such a unique interview, I would certainly say that kills the quality of this. A major downside of this is the time spent translating back-and-fourth. I think, although it would have made this shorter (more like one hour as opposed to two), that dubbing this with subtitles would have been better all around. The documentary, Blood-Stained Memories, did this with Keiji Muto and it preserved a lot of the personality in his responses. It seems like not much ground was actually covered and the questions are pretty generic and dull.
The Rating: ***1/2
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Heroes of World Class Championship Wrestling
Director: Brian Harrison
Distributor: Big Vision Entertainment
Released: 12/06
Featured Talent
Chris Adams, Skandor Akbar, Baby Doll (Nikla Roberts), Mickey Grant, Gary Hart, Marc Lowrance, David Manning, Johnny Mantell, Bill Mercer, Kevin Von Erich
The Good
This is regarded by many the definitive pro-wrestling documentary. While others have some great qualities, this one was a revelation. It told the story of World Class in a way that was open, honest and highly detailed. Brian Harrison dug deeply here and found some great stories to include in the larger story of World Class. This company grew quickly and it was not because of any one reason, but a combination of factors that are accurately tackled here. The booking was great, the talent was young and capable and often overlooked is the genius of Mickey Grant. WCCW went from a standard rasslin' show to something cool with the look and sound that Grant directed. This documentary also goes into a lot of depth with the various characters and angles that made the Sportatorium rock-n-roll in the early 1980s. Gary Hart is the star of the interviewees, but Kevin Von Erich's honesty cannot be overlooked. To top it off, they venture through the Sportatorium before it was destroyed. This is just tremendous documentary-making.
The Bad
The people featured in this documentary are fine, but it makes you wonder who could have been interviewed that was not? Obviously, there are many who are long dead, some who are recluses and others under contract to the WWE. While that may hurt the credibility of this documentary for some and they point to the WWE's World Class piece as being superior in that area, the quality of this should hush those judgements. The WWE had seventeen people, four are in both, but only really eight in the WWE's were World Class wrestlers that were good inclusions. Heroes does not have the video quality or editing of the WWE deal, which makes this look run-of-the-mill.
The Extras
This has some great stuff from deleted scenes to a number of interviews, including one with Jim Cornette. It can be difficult to include a few gems when your product is so good and while they could not do matches, they could do this and it is a nice addition.
The Rating: *****
Director: Brian Harrison
Distributor: Big Vision Entertainment
Released: 12/06
Featured Talent
Chris Adams, Skandor Akbar, Baby Doll (Nikla Roberts), Mickey Grant, Gary Hart, Marc Lowrance, David Manning, Johnny Mantell, Bill Mercer, Kevin Von Erich
The Good
This is regarded by many the definitive pro-wrestling documentary. While others have some great qualities, this one was a revelation. It told the story of World Class in a way that was open, honest and highly detailed. Brian Harrison dug deeply here and found some great stories to include in the larger story of World Class. This company grew quickly and it was not because of any one reason, but a combination of factors that are accurately tackled here. The booking was great, the talent was young and capable and often overlooked is the genius of Mickey Grant. WCCW went from a standard rasslin' show to something cool with the look and sound that Grant directed. This documentary also goes into a lot of depth with the various characters and angles that made the Sportatorium rock-n-roll in the early 1980s. Gary Hart is the star of the interviewees, but Kevin Von Erich's honesty cannot be overlooked. To top it off, they venture through the Sportatorium before it was destroyed. This is just tremendous documentary-making.
The Bad
The people featured in this documentary are fine, but it makes you wonder who could have been interviewed that was not? Obviously, there are many who are long dead, some who are recluses and others under contract to the WWE. While that may hurt the credibility of this documentary for some and they point to the WWE's World Class piece as being superior in that area, the quality of this should hush those judgements. The WWE had seventeen people, four are in both, but only really eight in the WWE's were World Class wrestlers that were good inclusions. Heroes does not have the video quality or editing of the WWE deal, which makes this look run-of-the-mill.
The Extras
This has some great stuff from deleted scenes to a number of interviews, including one with Jim Cornette. It can be difficult to include a few gems when your product is so good and while they could not do matches, they could do this and it is a nice addition.
The Rating: *****
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Jack Victory [RF Video Shoot Interview]
The Good
One of the early RF Video shoot interviews as Jack Victory on the shelf during his ECW run talks about his early years in Mid-South and World Class, his peak years in the UWF, his time in WCW and finally his return with ECW. It is your standard RF Video shoot, but because it is an early on it seems less formulaic and more open. When Jack shares a couple Von Erich stories, they egg him on to tell more! This is likely the start of RF's fascination with the erratic behavior of the Von Erichs. Tales of murdering cats, openly abusing drugs, no-showing small towns and other shenanigans are all detailed by Jack Victory more than a decade ago. Jack has endless road stories about Missy Hyatt, Buddy Roberts, the Samoan Swat Team and John Tatum. I don't really know a lot about the timeline of RF Video shoot interviews, but this seems to really be early on and sets some standards of wanting to hear about road stories and ribs. Jack Victory seems to have them right at his fingertips and is a shockingly good storyteller, so this is a success in many ways.
The Bad
I guess if you know the RF Video formula than you can pretty much expect the linear discussion that happens. What's worse is this is back when they used to have call-in questions that were just awful because they had often just gone over those things in question. Jack is funny and has a million stories, but there is not much depth to this and it seems to set RF Video shoots on the wrong path. Road stories and ribs are entertaining, but once you've heard them, that's all there is. Discussions about psychology, the inner workings of the business and how people developed is always a preferable narrative. That is why the shoots with Bill Watts, Jim Cornette, Raven and even Lanny Poffo are great and interviews with WWF midcarders who just answer questions one-by-one are not great.
The Rating: ***1/2
The Good
One of the early RF Video shoot interviews as Jack Victory on the shelf during his ECW run talks about his early years in Mid-South and World Class, his peak years in the UWF, his time in WCW and finally his return with ECW. It is your standard RF Video shoot, but because it is an early on it seems less formulaic and more open. When Jack shares a couple Von Erich stories, they egg him on to tell more! This is likely the start of RF's fascination with the erratic behavior of the Von Erichs. Tales of murdering cats, openly abusing drugs, no-showing small towns and other shenanigans are all detailed by Jack Victory more than a decade ago. Jack has endless road stories about Missy Hyatt, Buddy Roberts, the Samoan Swat Team and John Tatum. I don't really know a lot about the timeline of RF Video shoot interviews, but this seems to really be early on and sets some standards of wanting to hear about road stories and ribs. Jack Victory seems to have them right at his fingertips and is a shockingly good storyteller, so this is a success in many ways.
The Bad
I guess if you know the RF Video formula than you can pretty much expect the linear discussion that happens. What's worse is this is back when they used to have call-in questions that were just awful because they had often just gone over those things in question. Jack is funny and has a million stories, but there is not much depth to this and it seems to set RF Video shoots on the wrong path. Road stories and ribs are entertaining, but once you've heard them, that's all there is. Discussions about psychology, the inner workings of the business and how people developed is always a preferable narrative. That is why the shoots with Bill Watts, Jim Cornette, Raven and even Lanny Poffo are great and interviews with WWF midcarders who just answer questions one-by-one are not great.
The Rating: ***1/2
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