I was born and raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In 1980, my dad and grandfather started letting me watch pro wrestling with them on television. Oklahoma was home base for a regional promotion, called Mid-South (which later became UWF). "Cowboy" Bill Watts was the promoter and I started getting used to rooting for the babyfaces : Ted Dibiase (yes, he was a face before he became the Million Dollar Man), Junkyard Dog and Mr. Wresting #2.
For some reason, I gravitated towards the masked wrestlers and liked the bad guys, as much as the good. My first live event was later that year. I don't remember too much about the card, other than the main event was the good guy : #1 Paul Jones vs. "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka inside a steel cage.
Everyone raves about the Superfly leaping off of the top of the cage in Madison Square Garden, but he was doing that a few years earlier in Tulsa! Once I saw him make that leap, I was hooked for life. In junior high and high school, it became an obsession.
I'll save my favorite masked wrestlers for another article. I want to share with you some of the best heel promos in the history of the business. For those not in-the-know, a "heel" is the bad guy. A "face" is the babyface or good guy.
#1 - OLE ANDERSON TURNS ON DUSTY RHODES | GEORGIA CHAMPIONSHIP WRESTLING (July 26, 1980)
This isn't the first heel turn on Dusty, but it was the most shocking, at the time. This feud went on for over a decade, but this particular turn took 2 years to culminate and the way in which it went down was epic. In hindsight, this was a textbook swerve, but the way it was setup just isn't done anymore. Most of these angles required a riot squad escort because the crowd literally wanted to kill them.
Cliff Notes :
1978 - Bad guys turned on Ole. Ole pretends to be a good guy and tag-teams with Mr. Wrestling #2, Tommy Rich and Stan Hansen. Before turning "face", Ole teamed with his brother, Gene as the Minnesota Wrecking Crew. His other brother, Lars was also in the territory and was wrestling as a singles competitor.
1980 - Assassins #1 & #2 were the Georgia Tag Team champions. After having successful runs with the previous mentioned grapplers, they went to Dusty to convince him to ask Ole to be his tag-team partner in the feud with the Assassins. The feather in the cap was getting Ivan Koloff and Gene Anderson to be special referees inside a steel cage. Watch this video and enjoy the best promo ever.
#2 - TED DIBIASE TURNS ON JUNKYARD DOG | MID-SOUTH WRESTLING (June 24, 1982)
At the time, Junkyard Dog and Ted DiBiase were the two most popular babyfaces in the territory. The angle set up was that JYD was the best man at DiBiase's wedding and they were best friends. Previously, Bob Roop was the North American champion and was in a big feud with DiBiase. Out of desperation, DiBiase was granted a final shot at the title, in a One Fall-NO-DQ- Loser-Leaves-Town match.
JYD was the Louisiana Champion and upset Roop for his North American title, becoming a double champion. Because of the new obligations with the North American belt, he had to forfeit the Louisiana title and immediately start defending all of the engagements that Roop had been committed to defend.
This meant that he had to defend the title against his best friend, Ted DiBiase, in that dreaded No Disqualification, Loser Leaves Town match. The tension leading up to this match was a real tear jerker. As a kid, I was thinking this was going to be a good guy vs. good guy match, but man was the ending epic. This feud turned DiBiase heel and he never looked back. Amazing to see this in person.
#3 - JERRY LAWLER LOSES A HAIR MATCH VS. AUSTIN IDOL | MID-SOUTHERN / CWA / MEMPHIS (April 27, 1987)
If you want to watch every promo and event leading up to this big Main Event Hair vs. Hair / Steel Cage Match, the video runs about 2 hours but will give you everything you need to know. If you only want to watch the cage match, scroll down and click the second link.
Tommy Rich came to Memphis as a babyface, but took issue with the promoter because he was promised a title shot at Nick Bockwinkle's AWA World Title. When that shot went to Jerry Lawler, Tommy took exception. As the tension escalated, Austin Idol and Paul E. Dangerously (before he became Paul Heyman) interjected into the fray. All of them were fighting over 2 or 3 titles, at the time, and it was a big mess. I'm not going to spoil how it all plays out. If you want the fuller understanding, watch the longer video. If you're into rasslin', it's worth the time investment.
#4 - HULK HOGAN JOINS THE NWO | WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP WRESTLING (July 7, 1996)
This angle has been talked to death.
Cliff Notes :
- Hall/Nash left WWF and invade WCW.
- Confusion on if they were still signed to WWF or not.
- As The Outsiders, Hall/Nash disrupt matches, main events and the TV how, itself.
- There's a mystery 3rd man involved with the Outsiders.
- Hulk Hogan shows up to "save" Macho Man and be his mystery partner vs. The Outsiders.
- Hogan turns on Savage and reveals himself to be the leader of the NWO.
To get the full rundown on every nuance of this angle, visit : here
#5 - STEVE AUSTIN CONFRONTS MIKE TYSON | WORLD WRESTLING ENTERTAINMENT (January 19, 1998)
The premise for this confrontation was that Mike Tyson, who was the hottest boxer on planet Earth at the time, would be the special guest enforcer for the World Title Match between "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels. Austin went in, confronted Tyson and raised some hell.
Most everyone thought Tyson was a member of De-Generation X. As it turns out, Tyson turned on Michaels in the end.
(Editors Note : These aren't the best of all-time. These are 5 great angles, hence the name. Yes, I am aware that Andre The Giant turning on Hogan should be in the list. I tried to cover different eras and not saturate this list with the same wrestlers. If you like what you see and want me to give perspective on any wrestlers, feel free to leave a comment below. I'm not planning on just posting up random videos. I want to provide my thought or commentary on these memories of my childhood and share them with other fell steemian wrestling fans. Let me know what you'd like to see in the future and I'll get to work!)
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