$heriff Tom
Administrator
Groom ba ya ya ya
Posts: 16,173
|
Post by $heriff Tom on Aug 28, 2007 7:41:14 GMT -5
So what do you guys think of Tommy Rich? Back in the day, Wildfire was blazing through the wrestling world. A fixture on the mag covers of the 80s, along with Hogan, Flair, and Dusty. I was always a Rich fan, cause he was involved in some of the most frantic feuds of my formulative years as a wrestling fan.
"Mad Dog" Buzz Sawyer, The Masked Superstar, The Fabulous Freebirds, his former friend the black-gloved Ted Dibiase. For all the crap Rich takes as someone who drank his career away, he has a week-long stint as NWA champ to hang his hat on, and a very entertaining shoot interview in my collection where he spent the whole time drinking beers.
Please share your favorite Tommy "Wildfire" Rich memories, from his days of teaming up with JYD and Mr Wrestling II against the Freebirds, through his violent heel turn against King Lawler in Memphis, and his stint as "The Big Don" of the FBI in ECW rings.
|
|
|
Post by grover on Aug 28, 2007 10:46:51 GMT -5
Never liked Tommy Rich.
|
|
$heriff Tom
Administrator
Groom ba ya ya ya
Posts: 16,173
|
Post by $heriff Tom on Aug 28, 2007 11:14:45 GMT -5
Well, then, you never saw him in his prime, in all due respect. His brawls, especially on the Georgia circuit, were off the charts. And he partook in many an old-school bloodbath. And oh could he work a crowd.
You missed a good one. Oh, and how could I forget his run with Alexandra York and the York Foundation. One of my favorite stables of yore, with Thomas Rich, Richard Morton, and Terrence Taylor. What a solid unit.
|
|
|
Post by grover on Aug 28, 2007 12:16:29 GMT -5
I know he was good in the ring, I was just never a big fan as a kid.
|
|
|
Post by thecaptain15 on Aug 28, 2007 12:55:36 GMT -5
I met Wildfire at LT's Resturant (on Rt. 17 when it was in business and he was playing).....He was drunk shooting pool and got the indication from the rest of "the boys" there that he was pretty much drunken, white trash..LOL..I have his autograph along with several others (Nature Boy, Kevin Sullivan, JR, Michael Wallstreet forget who else, on a check from LTs..also got LT's on it ...)
|
|
|
Post by grover on Aug 28, 2007 19:28:49 GMT -5
I tell you this, I had a lot more respect and appreciation for Rich after I read that Missy Hayatt gave him a BJ while at a stop light.
|
|
$heriff Tom
Administrator
Groom ba ya ya ya
Posts: 16,173
|
Post by $heriff Tom on Sept 13, 2007 8:23:20 GMT -5
Yeah, well, Missy Hyatt was easy shakes. I was leafing through her book again the other day, and read a couple of pages regarding relations she had with....BRUTUS FRIGGIN' BEEFCAKE. For crying out loud, she even engaged in intercoursal antics with Dr Tom Pritchard in his car, parked in the lot outside of where they did the Continental TV tapings!
Back to Rich.
He lost a loser-leaves-town match with a heel Ted Dibiase on the Georgia circuit circa 84 or so, and then a mysterious masked fellow known as "Mr R" hit the scene. Well, obviously an exasperated Ted was convinced this was Rich under the hood. He complained long and loud, to no avail. Finally, Dibiase put his television strap on the line against the mysterious Mr R, and he set out to unmask this imposter.
Well....a few minutes into the match, who walks to ringside?? A returning TOMMY RICH! What the??? Well, Dibiase stands there, his mouth agape, with the, "how can you be in two places at once....if that is not you under the mask, WHO is it?" look. Well, in short fashion he is rolled up for a pin, and "Mr R" is your new television champion. Mr R then unmasks, and it is......Brad Armstrong!
They dont do it like that anymore.
|
|
|
Post by thecaptain15 on Sept 13, 2007 8:33:42 GMT -5
I remember that "Mr. R" angle.......
|
|
|
Post by grover on Sept 13, 2007 11:23:06 GMT -5
Those angles are fun. They did that not too long ago with the Hogan/Mr.America gag, but that got old quick.
I guess I just have to see Rich in his heyday. My lasting memories are of him bringing Big Josh to the ring and giving me the finger at ECW shows. LOL!
|
|
$heriff Tom
Administrator
Groom ba ya ya ya
Posts: 16,173
|
Post by $heriff Tom on Sept 27, 2007 10:19:57 GMT -5
In the waning years of ECW we got a chance to heckle Rich, who was ringside with the FBI. He was really blubbery by this point, so we showered him with "Dusty Rhodes" chants. At one point, with him looking right at me, I was like, "way to lose to Harley Race." Despite the fact that this is no insult, he got really mad (well, pretended to be, anyway) and he started howling and carrying on. Little known (or cared about) factoid - it was Rich who bought "his buddy Big Josh from the Northwoods" into WCW to help him in his wars with whoever he was fighting at the time. At one point that evening I was able to get Rich's attention and snap, "why dont you get Big Josh to help you" which set him off all over again.
|
|
|
Post by sancho231 on Sept 27, 2007 14:01:52 GMT -5
wasnt this dick in the york foundation with ricky morton?that was a shitty stable
|
|
$heriff Tom
Administrator
Groom ba ya ya ya
Posts: 16,173
|
Post by $heriff Tom on Sept 27, 2007 14:10:42 GMT -5
Hey! One of my favorite stables of all time. Richard Morton, Thomas Rich, Terrence Taylor. Mr Hughes was even around, for muscle. Thats money.
|
|
$heriff Tom
Administrator
Groom ba ya ya ya
Posts: 16,173
|
Post by $heriff Tom on Nov 8, 2007 12:29:30 GMT -5
Tommy Rich had a Hell of a run as a heel in Memphis. At one time he was palling around with Paul E and Austin Idol, and they had quite the brouhaha with Jerry Lawler. Someone in the kayfabe board made a comp of this heated rivarly, I need to make the purchase. At one point Rich "posted" Lawler, by standing outside the ring and pulling a prone Jerry into the post, balls first. And lets not forget the infamous cage battle between Lawler and Idol when Rich came out from under the ring (where he had legit been hiding all day, so the fans could not spot him going under) and helping Idol bloody Lawler to an absolute pulp, culminating in the shaving of the kids head.
|
|
|
Post by thecaptain15 on Nov 8, 2007 13:04:36 GMT -5
Tom I am starting to get uncomfortable with your fixation on Tommy Rich....you even asked to be him on the HH invasion thread..LOL
|
|
$heriff Tom
Administrator
Groom ba ya ya ya
Posts: 16,173
|
Post by $heriff Tom on Nov 8, 2007 13:15:48 GMT -5
Actually, it was mentioning him on that thread that sparked me to run over here and sing his praises once again. Its not that I am stuck in a Tommy Rich fantasyland.
At the end of the day what I respect most about Tommy Rich (aside from the BJ he got from Missy Hyatt) is that he drank beer all the way through his shoot interview.
|
|
|
Post by sancho231 on Nov 8, 2007 13:57:47 GMT -5
any good souther brawls from Rich that should be viewed?
|
|
$heriff Tom
Administrator
Groom ba ya ya ya
Posts: 16,173
|
Post by $heriff Tom on Nov 8, 2007 14:37:47 GMT -5
Sadly I dont think a lot of Rich's best stuff is on the YouTube. Not since I last browsed, anyway, although there is cool footage of Rich's heel turn in Memphis and a cheesy music video with him driving around in a car on there.
His classic stuff, and I have some on tape, was against the likes of Masked Superstar, the Freebirds, and his old buddy Ted DIbiase, circa Georgia. He had some bloodbaths all around the South, but Atlanta was his main stomping ground. His fued with Buzz Sawyer was legendary, but not much of that is available anywhere.
Rich was a gusher. He would bleed all over, then "fire it up!" and drop the fist from the middle rope, and his foe was vanquished.
|
|
$heriff Tom
Administrator
Groom ba ya ya ya
Posts: 16,173
|
Post by $heriff Tom on Jan 31, 2008 9:54:59 GMT -5
Another cool thing regarding Tommy Rich was a nod to the old days at a latter year Clash of the Champions, when he faced off with Handsome Harley Race for another go-round. The two wrestled a solid old-school, slow-paced match, while the rest of the card was dotted with all the antics the dawning of the 90s were bringing in.
I used to like watching old foes going back at it again, to see those old passions enflamed between two enemies all over again.
|
|
$heriff Tom
Administrator
Groom ba ya ya ya
Posts: 16,173
|
Post by $heriff Tom on Feb 5, 2008 12:01:34 GMT -5
LOL! I got an email from a trader with some new stuff he has to sell, and it includes a "Tommy Rich Shoot Interview." Now, I own one, from like 7 years ago. I was wondering if he has since done a new one, as they have become more candid in time. So I go to Google and punch up "Tommy Rich Shoot Interview" and the 4th thing listed is... Tommy RichSo what do you guys think of Tommy Rich? Back in the day, Wildfire was ... and a very entertaining shoot interview in my collection where he spent the whole ... sherifftom.proboards86.com/index.cgi?board=wrestling&action=print&thread=1188304874 - 10k - Cached - Similar pages My Tommy Rich thread rocks!
|
|
|
Post by joetee316 on Feb 6, 2008 14:38:05 GMT -5
Holy s*@t Tom! You are making me laugh so hard with your Tommy Rich fascination. I know you like the guy a lot and I was with you at the ECW shows in Philly where you heckled him but this thread really brings the LOLs. Thanks for making me laugh like this.
And this post really set me off onto another giggling spree Tom I am starting to get uncomfortable with your fixation on Tommy Rich....you even asked to be him on the HH invasion thread..LOL
|
|
$heriff Tom
Administrator
Groom ba ya ya ya
Posts: 16,173
|
Post by $heriff Tom on Feb 6, 2008 15:11:32 GMT -5
Hey, he was a drawling, drunken Southern guy who liked to barbrawl and get hobknobs from the trailer trash in cars parked right outside the building while the fans were getting let out - whats not to like?
His was the first shoot interview where the guy spent the whole time drinking beer. He was a classic face in peril, and also at times an obnoxious heel that disgusted the crowd. He was Wildfire!
|
|
$heriff Tom
Administrator
Groom ba ya ya ya
Posts: 16,173
|
Post by $heriff Tom on Feb 7, 2008 15:08:59 GMT -5
25 years ago 2/7 - : Tommy Rich beat Harley Race via DQ in the main event at the Omni, while Bob Armstrong went to a no contest with Roddy Piper, Ron Fuller & Bad Leroy Brown no contest Superstar & Super Destroyer, Blackjack Mulligan beat Big Red, Les Thornton kept the world junior heavyweight title going to a double count out with jerry Brisco in other matches on the show
|
|
|
Post by sancho231 on Feb 7, 2008 15:54:47 GMT -5
So how long did Rich have the NWA belt for? a week or something?
and man did he get fat during his ECW run
|
|
|
Post by sancho231 on Feb 7, 2008 15:58:10 GMT -5
|
|
$heriff Tom
Administrator
Groom ba ya ya ya
Posts: 16,173
|
Post by $heriff Tom on Feb 24, 2008 0:37:31 GMT -5
28 years ago today, 2/23 - Tommy Rich beat Austin Idol to win the TV title at the WTCG (soon to be TBS) Studios in Atlanta. However, Harley Race then attacked Rich and injured his leg, forcing a change in the Sunday night house show match to Race vs. Mr. Wrestling II.
|
|
MSBNYY
Administrator
El Guapo
Posts: 15,545
|
Post by MSBNYY on Feb 24, 2008 16:52:38 GMT -5
Too bad you posted this on the 24th--one day late and thus, missing the anniversary. You were off by just 37 minutes, and to that I say:
|
|
$heriff Tom
Administrator
Groom ba ya ya ya
Posts: 16,173
|
Post by $heriff Tom on Feb 24, 2008 21:21:18 GMT -5
No shit I missed the day, which is why I put the exact date. Also, stop using my Ha Ha! pic gimmick.
|
|
MSBNYY
Administrator
El Guapo
Posts: 15,545
|
Post by MSBNYY on Feb 25, 2008 8:23:15 GMT -5
Yes, but while you put the date of his victory, you posted that you were posting on the anniversary. It was not the anniversary. It was the day after the anniversary, and therefore your post was erroneous. And since when do you have a "ha ha" pic gimmick?
|
|
$heriff Tom
Administrator
Groom ba ya ya ya
Posts: 16,173
|
Post by $heriff Tom on Feb 25, 2008 8:25:00 GMT -5
I have used that same pic at least a half dozen times on this board laughing at people. Please dont tell me you did not realize that when you posted that exact pic under the same scenario.
|
|
MSBNYY
Administrator
El Guapo
Posts: 15,545
|
Post by MSBNYY on Feb 25, 2008 8:35:39 GMT -5
I'm afraid not. I have no memory of you using that gimmick, and it's the first Ha Ha picture I saw on Google. That said, your original post was quite misleading.
|
|