gold

Flair and The Big Gold Bet distortion question.

2nd April 2015 by Scott Keith
Scott,

A few questions regarding the distortion of Flair's Big Gold Belt on WWF TV in 1991.

1. When they first started distorting the belt on TV as part of the angle, he was still carrying the actual BGB in the arenas and during promos, right? They then swapped it for a different belt (I think one of the Tag Team Titles?) at some point later on, correct?

2. Specifically when was the BGB swapped for the Tag-team Title belt (or whatever belt they used)? Do we have any kind of date as to when the BGB was actually last used on WWF TV in 1991 and when the other title was used in its place?

I mean the whole point of the "Tunny orders the belt distorted" thing is that they no longer had access to the BGB because Flair had returned it to WCW after reaching a settlement with them, right?

Thanks in advance for any answers you or the readers might have. 

​1.  Right, he was carrying it for a bit and then they actually made their own knockoff belt once they returned the real one to WCW.  It was kind of a cheesy thing that looked like a cross between the AWA inmate belt​ and the real Big Gold.  Not sure what photos are floating around, but they do exist.  And then I believe they got legal threats over THAT as well because they were kind of representing themselves as having possession of Big Gold when in fact they didn't, and at that point they switched to the tag title and killed the angle completely.
2.  It was pretty quick.  Flair came in around September and the BGB was gone by Survivor Series, right?  
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Flair Taking Home the Big Gold Belt?

15th July 2014 by Scott Keith
Hey guys,
Pretty timely with the rumors that Flair is taking home the World Heavyweight Title for good, here's my interview with Dick Bourne, author of "Big Gold"- the most detailed, researched book I've ever seen come out of wrestling. 
Bourne talks Mid-Atlantic memories, J.J. Dillon, Bob Caudle, and oh yeah, the Naitch…
Thanks!
John Corrigan

—

Reporter for Al.com/Huntsville
Set All Time Record for Most Hits on The Temple News' Website

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QOTD #18: No Gold

8th July 2014 by Scott Keith
It’s Tuesday, BoDers. RAW remained stagnant, but it was the
only letdown of my day. I hope you got something positive out of your day as
well.
Today’s Question:
In your opinion, who was the
best wrestler to never hold ANY championship gold in WWE/WCW/ECW?
We’ll check out your answers tomorrow. If you want to head
over to the discussion, scroll to the end of this thread or click the comments
button at the top.

Yesterday was all about Santino Marella. It looks like a lot
of BoDers don’t share the love I have for the Cobra man, but you still managed
to conjur up some excellent memories. Here were some of your favorites:
DanimalCrossing: I always got a kick out of the playing of
the fake bugle. I never understood it. I don’t want it to be explained. It was
just plain old fun.
Night81: Santino and Beth winning the IC and women’s
titles from Kofi and Mickie and Beth carrying Santino out on her shoulders.
Inno: Every mention of “John Chaina”
Chris B: He makes John Cena break character
thatguyJMM: My favorite was him winning the IC title
from Umaga on his debut at the height of the Crazy Vince angle
Wow: I loved when he would do a diving headbutt
and do a salute as he did it. One tag match he saw the other tag partner try to
come in and yelled “don’t even think about it!” Little things like
that were awesome.
Witlon: The Honk-a-meter. How they screwed that up,
I will never know.
Ratboy: “I mean every man to hide behind a mask
is either incredibly ugly, incredibly stupid or he’s the Batman. And you, Sir,
you’re not the Batman!”
Jackson Smith: A deathly afraid Santino responding to Kane
screaming “Where’s Punk?” in his face with “Did you try the
Pepsi machine?”
Dirty_Dave_Delaney:
There was a tag match from about a year
or two ago I think involving Santino where he goes to do the spot of jumping
towards your partner to hit the hot tag, only Santino’s jump doesn’t quite
reach his partner causing him to fall face down on the mat. Just a little
comedic twist on a classic spot but I do prefer that kind of in-ring comedy as
opposed to using gross out humour in wrestling (e.g. Stephanie vomiting over
Vickie Guerrero from a few weeks ago).
Crikey Mate Down
Under Aussie: Santino landing the
first hit against Laurinitus’ People Power movement in the Raw after
WrestleMania 28, beating Swagger and Ziggler in what was essentially a handicap
match for his US title. He was always a great slimeball heel, but man was he a
great underdog face when booked correctly.
wnyxmcneal: 
Michael Weyer: He and Koslov in England in full suits,
derby hats and umbrellas, talking about how he studied Benny Hill and Austin
Powers and “now know all about this culture.” They do a “tea
party” in the ring with Sheamus with Santino getting great lines.
“Your anger is for two reasons. First, you were exposed to gamma rays.
Second, you were excluded from activities as a child because you are
ginger.” Just hysterical how he did it.
ABeyAnce1: I tried to find the video, but I couldn’t.
My favorite Santino moment has to be a year after he and Beth broke up. They
had an argument, and when she walked away, he went, “And Beth, when we
were intimate, I faked every organism.”
LScisco: No question for me its the 2011 Rumble. They
should’ve put Santino over and had some Rocky-like vignettes for facing Edge at
WrestleMania (I’ve been watching the Rocky films lately so that’s why I have
this idea). Would’ve been a cool underdog vs. big dog story. I just do a
facepalm when I think back to that match. The WWE walked into a perfect
“memorable moment” and then proceeded to ruin it. Perfect example of
how this company can’t pull off stuff like that anymore because they try too
hard to think of memorable things instead of letting them happen. If Santino
had won, that’d be a Rumble finish people would be talking about for decades.
F’N Body Slams – Dan Selby:
Elimination Chamber and Rumble, hands
down. He’s a talent to get people invested THAT much. He had me believing, and
i’m a 20+ year fan. That was getting some fucking heat, man.
Unquestionably, I have to agree with the last two posters.
In particular, the 2012 Elimination Chamber had me on the edge of my seat – I actually
thought that they might just do it. I had written at the time: “Santino had the
crowd in the palm of his hands. Wonderfully executed underdog story,
exceptionally enjoyable … Very disappointing they didn’t pull the trigger. The
place would have gone mental. If they can keep from over exposing Santino’s
act, and just have him squash the undercard with his silly Cobra with matches
once every 2-3 weeks on TV, they can probably hold off riding this newfound
popularity wave right through to another match down the line.”
The US Title was a nice consolation prize, and truthfully
after they went with Sheamus there was nowhere for him to go in the main scene,
as both top guys were babyfaces. If I’m unapologetically giving Santino far too
much credit, it’s because I genuinely felt like his heart was into what he was
doing more than anyone. He never broke character. He could deliver straight
lines, goofy lines, whatever he needed to do. And if he was booked in a
ridiculous angle, he was going all the way. The unibrow. Santina. The Honky
Meter. As an abusive boyfriend. As a clutsy boyfriend. He ran the gamut.
I hope he enjoys retirement. And to take us out, here’s the
Dating Game. See you tomorrow.
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Wyatts and the gold

19th June 2014 by Scott Keith

Just a little preemptive celebratory prediction here, but I would like to be the FIRST to call the Wyatts winning ALL the gold at MITB. The tag straps are a straight gimmie, Harper is rising fast. The fans have already turned the Wyatts into tweener-faces, they are getting HUGE reactions.
Bray will win the hanging titles. Lesnar is rumored to face the champ at Summerslam. How SWEET would a Bray Wyatt vs Lesnar feud be? Bray is booked just crazy and wicked enough to hang with Lesnar. And he's got some beef to him.
How about the promos between Paul and Bray? Maybe introduce Sister Abigail finally to help prevail?
Anyway, you heard it here FIRST. Love the blog you silly Canuck.
​Right, well, good luck with that.  I don't see it, but my powers of prognostication have certainly failed me before.  ​
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Big Gold Belt book

3rd June 2014 by Scott Keith
I'm sure you already knew but there's going to be a book all about The Big Gold Belt.
​I still haven't read the Ten Pounds of Gold book, but Karl Stern raves about it on his show and this belt is just as iconic.  It's definitely an interesting genre of book, for us belt marks.  ​
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