Yep, your memory is correct. Tights came off and the black censor dot showed up on the screen! 
And yes, that was the exact angle. Rude pulled a “random” woman out of the audience, who turned out to be Jake’s wife.
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The thing with Warrior is he had 0 ring talent. Hogan actually had more skill than people thought; he just subordinated everything to the Hulkster persona and moveset. And Warrior not only had no talent but worked extremely stiff (until locker-room vets beat it out of him), had no stamina (would get blown up if a match went over 4 minutes), had really no moves at all, and thought he was the bees’ knees because of his physique. Not surprisingly, he was gone from the WWE in short order. Nobody liked him in the locker room.
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Benoit was one of those guys who, beyond the in-ring skill and the moveset, made everything feel real. Guy didn’t have to be a spot machine to convince you this was serious business. Every chop, every punch or kick, or the way he’d make getting a guy in the crossface look like a hard-fought operation – just wrestling perfection. And ironically, given his personal history, he was a safe worker. Not your Goldberg or Vader or Warrior type who couldn’t be trusted not to injure the other guy for real.
I know this is my old man “get off my lawn” moment, but I am not a fan of how today’s wrestling audiences have been conditioned to expect a continuous parade of spotfests in a given match. No attention span. Everything is just spot spot spot and increasingly less realistic. Pacing is gone. No one’s allowed to hold an armbar for more than 5 seconds, because it’s always just a move on the way to a bigger move. (I’m with Jake on this 100%.) But you look at the best matches historically, whether it’s Angle-Benoit or the work of guys like Eddie Guerrero or Shawn Michaels or the Rock or whoever – it’s about pacing, dynamics, and drama as much as it is about the actual moves. Think about Foley-Taker Hell in a Cell and how much “dead air” there was by today’s standards – but holy crap, what a match. Think of Hogan-Rock in the aughts where Rock was booked to be the face but the crowd turned on him and turned the clock back like it was Hulkamania in the ‘80s – that match was all about working the crowd, with Hogan and Rock calling their way through it on the fly.
I wish we could go back to letting matches breathe a bit more, let some storytelling in and educate contemporary fans on the psychology.
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Who would have thought almost 30 years ago during the Warrior’s ill fated return the guy he squashed in Mania in 99 seconds would become a bigger name with longer longevity that we ever would
Marrying the bosses daughter kinda helped!
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From Winnipeg, this was way too good not to share here! WHO KNEW?!
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They should start calling him “Yokozuna” Miller at pressers.
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Reminds me of another Stampede Wrestling legend, the great Tor Kamata, “ No chancie Mr Whelan, you and your 10 cent socks.”
.
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Years ago when I was in my 20’s, I used to work out at Superfitness in Mississauga. After a workout and shower i went the the change area where the benches and lockers were and there…in his gotchies….was King Kong himself. It was funny changing less than ten feet away from the legend. I thought it would be creepy or maybe I was just chicken, but I didn’t interact with him.
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I feel the same way with celebrities, wondering if they’d appreciate it or if they’d rather just be left alone.
I read a story once by a guy who lived in Stan Laurel’s neighborhood. The guy idolized him and kept trying to muster the courage to ring his doorbell but he never did.
After Laurel died, the guy learned that he loved it when someone came by to talk about the old days.
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Similar thing way back around 1985-86, I worked out at the old Gold’s Gym site on St. James St. in Winnipeg. WWE had a card and the wrestlers worked out at Gold’s Gym (they had similar arrangements every place they toured). On that one day I had met Jesse the Body Ventura, who was dressed as gaudy as gaudy can get - but very down to earth, I asked him who he was working with that night (ie. opponents) and Jesse reluctantly answered “ROAD WARRIORS” - two unpredictable greenhorns . . . . happened to have tickets to the night’s activities at the old Wpg. Arena. Yep, Jesse the Body had Animal & Hawk to contend with but his partner was a body-building superman named Tony Atlas. NEver seen anything so funny, Jess spent the entire match tethered to his tag rope, letting Atlas to incur the fury the Road Warriors unleashed. Jess knew his body prolly couldn’t tolerate the amount of bumps the Warriors inflicted. I think Tony Atlas was pretty pissed off he was duped into being a punching bag for two animals.
Met Hulk Hogan in the locker room. Helluva nice guy, not quite as tall as his 6’8” billing but prolly a good 6’4” or slightly higher. Way back then I was a shade under 6’2” so almost eye to eye with Hulkie. Didn’t interact much with him. Just regular stuff about the city and the gym. The one thing I learned about most wrestlers - they’re just like you and me. They really don’t like it much when people keep asking them about past matches, wrestling magazine articles (mostly contrived stuff) and the like. Talk to them like they’re people - which they are. I found they appreciate that.
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Sorry this triggered the Ray Stevens song - Ballad of the Blue Cyclone Parts one and two. Same album with the “Haircut Song.”
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Unpopular opinion: the Road Warriors were immensely overrated. They were booked as unstoppable brutes and that look suited them, but as in-ring workers, they were very limited. Funnily enough, Demolition, which started out as a Road Warriors imitation, were far better at being effective heels and getting good matches out of just about anybody. Go back and watch the Ax and Smash incarnation of Demolition – they could work, man. They didn’t just stand around hitting 1-2 power moves.
Glad to see the WWE finally resolve its differences with Demolition: they’re scheduled to be inducted into the WWE HoF and it is very much overdue.
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Jesse Ventura was ahead of his time. He knew that ‘The Rodent Warriors’ were unsafe workers and wanted nothing to do with them - - - but letting Tony Atlas take the brunt of the punishment, thats crazy!
Looking back on it - even though Road Warriors were being billed as mega-heels, Ventura may have gotten into the heel business by ignoring Tony Atlas (his partner that night) cries for help. It was actually quite funny to be there that night and watch Jesse purposely evade his partner.
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Barry Darsow (Smash) was real-life friends with the Road Warriors. They all grew up in the north Minneapolis area.
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And all worked at Grandma B’s bar in Minneapolis along with Rick Rude
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