Ronnie Garvin Sells Out

Great American Bash ‘88

Ahh,Rugged Ronnie Garvin.  The man who’s finishing move once consisted of him stomping on the chest of his opponent.  Well, for the many years that he terrorized the wrestling world with his death defying moves, he was kind of the man in the NWA/Crocket Promotions/WCW at one point in the mid-late eighties.  Ron Garvin and his brother, former Freebird, Jimmy Garvin, battled the likes of the Midnight Express, Kevin Sullivan, and the Four Horsemen all across the country during this time.  In my opinion, it was during this period when the NWA was at it’s best.  Crockett Promotions produced some of the greatest wrestling matches, storylines and feuds during this era.  Unfortunately, they ran up against Vince McMahon and his bulldozer known as sports entertainment, which took the wrestling world by storm around this time as well.  For those who had never seen Crockett at it’s best, try to find some footage on You Tube of this era.  You will be in for a treat.

In 1988, Crockett put on it’s annual Great American Bash PPV.  Ron Garvin participated in the awesome Tower of Doom match.  The main storyline for the match was the ever going feud between Ron’s brother, Jimmy, and devil worshipping Kevin Sullivan.  The Garvin Brothers and their team were victorious and many fans assumed the night was over for Ron.

Enter Dusty Rhodes.  Later on in the night, Dusty Rhodes battled US Champion, Barry Windham, for the US Title.  During the match, referee, Tommy Young, was bumped all the way to the floor and was knocked unconcious.  Moments later, Dusty would slam Windham off the top rope and deliver his big elbow.  Windham’s manager, JJ Dillon, saw an opportunity to get involved with the ref still out.  All of a sudden babyface hero, Ronnie Garvin, came down to the ring and at first acted like he was going to assist Dusty and even the odds.  Then, as Dusty had his back turned to Ronnie, he turned Dusty back around and dropped him with a vicious right fist to the head.  Barry Windham got the claw on an unconscious Rhodes and got the easy victory.  Moments later, the cameras would find Ron Garvin in the back accepting a serious amount of cash from Gary Hart and JJ Dillon.  Ron Garvin had sold out.  Garvin would later go on to battle Dusty Rhodes for a bit until he fled to WWF land.  While working for McMahon, Garvin did pretty much nothing as he wrestled in very low profile feuds.  I guess Vince didn’t really think of Ron as World Champion material, huh?

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Tugboat Turns Heel

(Circa ‘91)

Welcome to what may possibly go down in history as the greatest heel turn of all-time.  In the early 90’s, the man, the myth, the legend and the coolest guy ever to wear sailor pants to the ring, Tugboat, took the World Wrestling Federation by storm.  He entered the WWF as a buddy of then wrestling savior, Hulk Hogan.  And let me tell you, when you were a buddy of The Hulk’s back then, you had it made.  Tugboat recieved an instant push just by standing next to Hulk Hogan during interviews.  Not a bad gig if you ask me.  Sometimes being  friend of Hulk’s could get you in trouble though.  Tugboat was attacked by Hogan foe, Earthquake, one week and Hogan came back to save his buddy.  Eventually Hulk would take care of business, but I think Tugboat got tired of standing in the shadow of his good friend.  Well, it is hard being one of the apostles of christ sometimes. 

Fast foward to an episode of WWF Superstars in mid-late 1991.  Tugboat teamed with the a tag team called the Bushwhackers.  If you don’t know who the hell they are, don’t worry about it.  They licked people’s heads, ate sardines and got squashed in any important match.  They took on the team of the Nasty Boys and Earthquake during the show.  These three were part of Jimmy Hart’s gang.  During the match, all six men would wind up getting in a melee in the ring.  Out of nowhere, Tugboat suddenly attacked the Bushwhackers.  It was really awkward because it happened so quickly that you kind of thought maybe they made a mistake or something.  Even Vince McMahon on commentary kind of seemed like he had no idea Tugboat was turning heel.  Macho Man added “I think Tugboat was wrestling so hard that he forgot who was on his team” to explain Tugboat attacking Luke and Butch.  Maybe Tugboat realized his career was going nowhere as a babyface and decided mid match to just take it upon himself to turn heel.  Hell, it was 1991, who the fuck was watching anyway? 

Earthquake hit his finisher on Luke and got the pin.  Tugboat and Earthquake  slapped high-five and hugged each other.  Then the Nasty Boys joined in on the hug fest and all four attacked the Bushwhackers some more.  Heck, I would too.  It was always a thrill for me to see the Bushwhackers destroyed laid out.  Jimmy’s Hart’s gang would leave the ring with thier heads held high.  Before they left, Macho Man asked the viewers at home what Hulk Hogan thought of Tugboat’s actions?  Hmmm, to be honest, I doubt Hulk Hogan even knew that the WWF Superstars program existed.

Earthquake and Tugboat would eventually form a team, but not without Tugboat changing his name to Typhoon.  What was thier team name you ask?  The Natural Disasters.  Get it?

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Jake Roberts Slaps Miss Elizabeth

(Circa ‘91)

If you go back through the history of wrestling, you’ll find dozens upon dozens of intense and heated rivalries.  During the early 90’s period, you might be hard pressed to find a rivalry non more intense than Jake Roberts vs Randy Savage.  From the summer of ‘91 through the start of ‘92, Roberts and Savage were engulfed in a bitter war with one another that was as much personal as it was physical.  The fans got to see both wrestlers at the top of their game in the matches and in the promos

The catalyst for the feud came when Jake Roberts and then partner, The Undertaker, viciously attacked Savage during his own wedding party at Summerslam 91.  They would finally meet on TV one on one at the first WWF Tuesday Night PPV, Tuesday in Texas.

Randy Savage would pick up the victory win his famous elbow drop from the top rope, but it’s what happened after the match that would go down in history.  After the elbow drop, Savage went for the ring bell.  As Savage went to smack Jake with the bell, the ref grabbed it away from him, which then allowed Jake to hit the DDT on Savage.  Jake would go on to hit two more DDT’s and then he went his cobra from under the ring.  As this was happening, Savage’s wife, Miss Elizabeth came running out and draped herself over an unconscious Savage.  Jake proceeded to scream at Liz and antagonize her for a good couple of minutes. Now Roberts was known to snort a few lines of powder before shows in these days, so this could of been the coke acting out here.  Jake  got a little tired of all the crying and whining Elizabeth was doing in the ring, so he decided to grab her by the hair, stand her up and slap her right in the face.  LOL.  You heard a simultaneous gasp in the crowd and probably all throughout the offices of various advertising partners of the company. Now, you may be thinking to yourself that a male wrestler slapping a female valet is nothing compared to today’s wrestling.  But remember, this was 1991.   Something like this just wasn’t done back then, especially on WWF TV.  Jake would finally get removed from the ring by then WWF President, Jack Tunney to end the segment.

Jake and Savage would continue their feud for a couple more months and there is a couple more moments out of this feud to talk about in future editions.