The 15 Greatest Feuds you Never Heard Of part 2

Mr. Wrestling II vs. Magnum TA

These two former partners lost to the Midnight Express and during a title match, Mr. Wrestling II turned on Magnum igniting the feud.  The two brawled multiple times and the pay off match was the top draw for the show which pulled in 30,000 people.  

 Barry Horowtiz vs. Bodyadona Skip

Horowitz was a jobber and one that everyone remembered because of his patting himself on the back.  Yet, I can still hear Jim Ross yelling "Horowitz wins", and he won the rematch.  Skip would get revenge when his team beat Horowtiz's team in the 1995 Survivor Series.  Anytime you care about two low on the totem pole guys, the feud has to be good or at least feel good.

 Roddy Piper vs. Greg Valentine

This feud was intense as only Piper can do.  Valentine was a warrior and slugged it out in the ring, but Piper's promos helped make it great.  Then it ended with an epic dog collar match at the first Starcade.  It was brutal and bloody, and what a blow off match ought to be.

 Adam Pearce vs. Colt Cabana

Cabana is usually a comedy guy, but with Pearce the two could have believable matches.  They traded the NWA World Title several times and ended their feud with Seven Levels of Hate (Best of 7 matches with different stipulations).  Cabana won, but because of outside the ring politics neither walked away with the title.

 Hulk Hogan vs. Paul Orndorff

        Orndorff was another Bobby Hennan guy, but Orndorff was one who could actually hold his own in the ring and on the mic.  Orndorff was probably the best opponent Hogan actually did not duck (as he did Piper).  The two had some great matches that lacked a clear winner, and the feud was a huge money maker for the WWE.  Hogan kept the belt, but Orndorff proved he could draw money as a top heel.  Orndorff would have made a great champ, and this feud would have been even better if they had allowed Orndorff to walk away from one of these matches with the title, but that was not how Hogan did business, and that is why this is a feud no one has ever heard about.

WWE about to make some big mistakes

So it was not long ago that the Atlantic had an article about race in the WWE.  A good article except for the incredibly stupid line about expecting racism to be worse in southern wrestling.  Talk about stereotypes.  But at least he saw that the NWA has a list of African American champs going back decades.  It pointed out the lack of African American champs, explained why Samoans don't count in that list, and looked at the 12 african american "jobbers" in the company right now.

WWE seems to be running a new business model right now.  Read the internet and follow the buzz.  Well, the Atlantic article got buzz, was talked about on Cheap Heat podcast, and is now being acted upon.  R-Truth abruptly ended Bo Dallas's streak.  And Xavier Woods, Kofi Kingston, and Big E appear to be some sort of faction now.  While responding to the buzz sometimes gives us Daniel Bryan as champ, this time it is going to go badly.

And here is why.  Does anyone think Kofi, Big E, or Xavier is going to win the WWE Title?  Make no mistake about it, that is the main complaint in the article.  Stereotypes and lack of WWE champs.  The article is mostly a complaint that Booker T did not win when he should have so many years ago.  WWE ran the same story line that the NWA ran with Vader vs. Ron Simmons, but Ron Simmons won, ending the lack of diversity.  The WWE went a different direction and now deserve this criticism.  But without that WWE Title, this criticism is not going to end.  Unless the company wants to hand that title to Kofi or Big E, then this ends with someone like Cena defeating them.  How does that fix this perceived problem?  How does it help Cena to stop a group trying to end racism in the WWE?

This is not a quick fix for WWE.  They have spent years ruining good wrestlers like R-Truth and Kofi, and never had the patience to stay with so-so wrestlers like Big E.  They ran off Bobby Lashley (current TNA world champ), and chose to put over HHH rather than Booker T, which were to the two best African American wrestlers in WWE in recent memory.  Both would have made great WWE champs.  Getting someone whose WWE Title reign is going to be profitable and something other than a simple nod to ending the blight, but not fixing the problem.

The guys on Cheap Heat are excited about it.  But there is no way this ends well.  It either ends with Xavier Woods as your champ, or the attempt to end racism fails.  Neither proposition is really good.  Why not wait until TNA goes off the air and bring back Lashley or hire Jay Lethal and take the time to build him up.  Taking guys who have been mid card or lower and just making them WWE champ is not a good idea.

Booking 101: When the top guys are gone

I think independent wrestling is difficult to book.  It provides challenges you don’t have in the WWE.  Smoky Mtn. Wrestling run by Tony Givins just pulled off an amazing card overcoming the biggest problem in independent wrestling, traveling talent.

Smoky Mtn. was facing booking and promoting an event where their top stars were gone.  Jason Kincaid, the Heavyweight champ and top face was gone.  Chase Owens, the NWA World Junior Heavyweight champ and companies top heel, was touring Canada.  And then just to make matters worse Sigsmund, a second tier heel and one half of the Tag champs, was touring Europe.  So how do you build a show without your top heel, top face, no heavyweight champion or tag team champions? 

You can start with the easy stuff.  You have a secondary title and a tertiary title.  Both need to be on the line, but that really only gets you some opening act stuff.  That is not what you put on a poster.  Smoky Mtn. happens to be in the midst of an invasion angle, so that angle needs to move forward.  Yet, how do you really move it forward when the top face is missing?  Tony answered that with a four man tag event.  Apparently you take your second best face and team him with your top face tag team and another face from the company and let the guys go at it.  The outcome is a little predictable.  Your invading force cannot lose to a second tier face group without destroying the angle, but it does serve to continue the threat, it is something you can advertise, and gets an important match on the card.  However, since the outcome is predictable, it cannot be the main event. 

In the NWA then the answer is book the NWA World Heavyweight champion.  This match had a little bit of build up too as before Conway won the title, he lost to Chris Richards, a second level monster heel in SMW.  There is the main event.  It has a little build up, it is a major belt, and with Conway a man who can draw.  But there is more!  Givins also booked the NWA National Title in an open challenge format.  So now you can advertise the NWA World Champ, a proven draw, the National champ, an up and coming draw, and the big four man tag promoting the invasion story line.  There is your poster and with the two minor belts on the line the card is good. 

Givins fleshed it out even more with a battle royal to determine who would get a shot at one of the secondary titles.  People love battle royals.  And then he also added in Jax Dane, a traveling buddy of the NWA World Champ and former NWA World Tag Team champ, and put him in a match and set up future involvement with his help at the end in warding off the Invasion.  One thing is for sure, Smoky Mtn. put on a great show without its best local talent.  No easy task, but it was well done Saturday night. 

TNA loses TV spot

Apparently TNA will not be renewed by Spike TV.  It is hard to blame Spike.  The product stinks.  The ratings stink.  It drops viewers following COPS.  Seriously COPS.  I seriously doubt TNA will be able to find a new TV home in two months.  They just don't have much to offer anyone. 

While this may appear to be bad for the wrestling business, I don't think it is.  TNA was bad wrestling propped up by TV money.  They were not really a true second business to compete with WWE.  They were bad wrestling imitating WWE pretending to be something worth while.  A monopoly is bad, but TNA was even worse. 

What will be interesting is to see if any of the TNA talent ends up in WWE.  Does this open the door to a Samoa Joe or Austin Aries?  Probably not.  But a Team 3D return is possible.  Bully Ray has been doing some good work, and did not seem to burn bridges as he left WWE.  I would be that is really the only realistic shot of seeing TNA guys on WWE.  Kurt Angle may make some non-wrestling appearances, but that is about all you can hope for right now.

What is WWE doing?

Okay, so WWE had a run of rotten luck.  Daniel Bryan the World champ goes down with injury.  So too does Intercontinental champ Wade Barrett.  Add in the loss of CM Punk, and I can see why the WWE needs to get some boast in the roster ASAP. 

I understand John Cena getting the title.  It is too early for Roman Reigns to get the strap.  The chase is what draws us to the guy anyway.  So he needs to be feuding with the authority.  So Cena is the only other good bet for the belt.  But if you had Chris Jericho signed, why not use him at the PPV?  With Wade Barrett gone from the ladder match, Jericho coming in as the guest competitor and winning the belts rather than Cena is a good idea.

But lets assume that was not possible or throwing Jericho straight into the ladder match might not be good.  So, bring Jericho back to say he is the first undisputed champ, and have him feud with Cena over the title?  Cena needs a big time dance partner, and Jericho v. Cena has not been done in a long time, maybe ever.  Then Cena can eventually drop the belts to Jericho, who can play a heel, and the Jericho can drop it to Reigns (assuming Bryan is not back yet), and Jericho can ride off into the sunset.  Jericho vs. Bray Wyatt for nothing is not going to sell many tickets and is not going to be a good use of Jericho when you need guys at the top.

Would it not be better in the current situation to have these feuds going on into Summer Slam
Cena v. Jericho for the World Title
Ambrose v. Rollins
Reigns v. Authority
Ceasaro v. Shemus for the US Title
and give the Intercontinental title to Bray Wyatt so that he stays relevant. 
Plus bringing back Miz is not bad, but team him with Jack Swaggart as the next real Americans and they can have a go in the Tag realm with the Usos. 

That seems a lot better than what they are doing now.  Reigns is getting mixed in with Cena and that is not good for either man.  Jericho is feuding with Bray so that neither is really going anywhere and some nobody is going to get the Intercontinental Title making it pointless.   This just seems like WWE unable to have the spotlight on anyone but Cena.  Jericho, Ceasaro, and Bray are all buried.  Reigns is not spotlighted as he competes in a match that includes Cena, and every other belt is just wasted.

Greatest Feuds 5-1

5. Tully Blanchard vs. Magnum TA

These men hated each other, but they put on one heck of a show.  For my money still the best "I quit" match ever and probably the best cage match ever.  It was for a belt, but it was also because the men had to kill each other.  When you can combine those elements then you have a winner.  Many matches before this had finishes that did not settle the score including one where both men were down for the count of 10 leading up to the I Quit Starcade match.  TA walked out the US champ, but the fans were the real winners.

4. Chris Jericho vs. Dean Malenko

This feud was never a main event status, but was always the best on the card.  It often was for Jericho's Cruiser Weight belt or his TV Title, but it was mostly personal.  Jericho mocked the ice cold Malenko, which made it great when Malenko blew his emotional top in matches.  Jericho being the man of 1001 holds, Bore-Us Malenko, and Dean taking off the Cyclope mask to face Jericho were just a few of the best moments.  Admittedly that match had a few missed moves, but the feud as a whole was as good as it gets.  Some of the best story telling wrestling has to offer.

3. Four Horsemen vs. Dusty Rhodes

Flair did a lot of the heavy lifting in this one, but it was really the Horsemen as a whole.  Tully Blanchard had some good Dusty matches.  The War Games against Dusty's team counts here too.  Let us not forget the time that Rhodes came to save Flair, and then the Horsemen turned on Dusty anyway and pounded him and injured him.  Pure Horsemen.  Pure wrestling gold.

2. Rock-n-Roll Express vs. Midnight Express

This feud can still sell out buildings down south today.  It was a fan favorite versus the hated Cornett and whoever he had as the Express this time.  The feud sometimes included belts, but was more often than not just because the groups hated each other.  The matches included brilliant mat wrestling, amazing use of a manager (Jim Cornett), and innovated offense lest we forget the high flying double drop kick and that Bobby Eaton's finisher was off the top rope.  Rare things in the 80's.  When was the last time Tag Team wrestling could main event?  This pairing always could.

1. Von Erich Family vs. Freebirds

This was the greatest feud ever.  And Flair had a hand in starting it as did Von Erich friend, Michael Hayes, who went on to be their best foe of all time.  And best thing yet both sides thought they were right in the feud.  Hayes had cost Kerry the NWA title, but Kerry had fought with Hayes while Hayes was the ref, and Terry Gordy was trying to do his job as Kerry was getting out the door.  From the exciting start it went into singles matches, tag matches, three man matches even creating a 3 Man Tag Championship belt in the process.  Amazing and wonderful.  THE Feud is the Von Erich vs. Freebirds.  Nothing better.

Greatest Feuds: 10-6

10. Midnight Express vs. the Road Warriors

This one ended on a scaffold and with Jim Cornett taking a huge fall to blow out his knees.  It was two of the all time best tag teams going at it in their primes.  It was Starcade.  It was magic.  Must see TV.

9. Jerry the King Lawler vs. Andy Coughman

Andy was not a real wrestler, but he got in the ring multiple times and he was  more convincing than McMahmann.  Unlike McMahann, Andy wrestled like a non-wrestler, but still the feud was beautiful and hilarious.  These two took the feud to Dave Letterman's show and there it made wrestling infamous.  Get some clips of this stuff and watch it again.  Andy may have been one of the best heels of all time.

8. Larry Szabisco  vs. Bruno Sanmartino

This feud brought Sanmartino out of retirement, sold out arenas all through New England, and ended in a cage where Bruno escaped first to win the title "the Living Legend".  This feud had Bruno take chair shots to the head, and Larry got stabbed by a fan . . . really!  Larry never got pinned by the wrestling superstar Bruno Sanmartino during the entire feud.  And did I mention the fans were so into it one of them stabbed Szabisco?!  Hard to top that.

7. Austin vs. Bret Hart

This is the feud that actually made Austin.  It ended with an amazing double turn.  Hart became a heel and Austin a face.  But people forget that before that iconic picture of a bloodied Austin refusing to give up and Hart refusing to let go, that the duo had several great matches, and right before it a beautiful brutal match that is not what one thinks of normally when they think of Bret Hart.  Both men showed range and told a great story.

6. Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat

These guys actually had two great go rounds, but most remember the trio of matches that ended up making Flair good.  Steamboat beat Flair for the title, the next match was a Steamboat win despite Flair having his foot under the ropes.  So Flair got one last shot, and there Flair prevailed.  During the whole ordeal Flair went from villain to fellow hero with Steamboat.  And don't forget these were all two out of three fall matches.