Then he's hit - first by Hacksaw, then by... somebody else, then Dusty Rhodes does his awful dance and gives him an elbow to the head. The scrub teeters, spins, stumbles, bumbles, and wheels drunkenly right into the Von Erich claw! Felled and flat on the mat from the impact of the famed claw attack, a very old, worn out Jimmy Snuka scrambles up to the top turnbuckle. He can't, he won't, it'll kill him... he does! The crowd goes wild!
By crowd, I'm talking about the patrons of the sports bar. I can only assume how the patrons of the live event felt. There we were, grown men, for a few moments transported back to our youth, when these men, now old, out-of-shape, faded from prime, were monsters of the mat, when we believed the Von Erich claw might actually kill a man, when we wondered how anyone survived a top rope splash from the Superfly, when we thought the American Dream's dance added power to his punches.
The moment passed. In the fourth quarter, Brett Favre made a game of the up-until-then one-sided contest. We returned to our drinks and to the comfortably droning commentary of Al Michaels. But that wasn't the night. The night belonged to Snuka and the other old men of the wrestling ring who stole the show one last time.
[Article cross-posted at The Errant Fool, here]
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Article comments
1 - Chris Beaumont
Last night was the WWE's return to the USA network after 5 years of being on Spike.
I thought it was a good show. I haven't missed many shows for the past 7 or 8 years. The opening Iron Man match was great!
2 - The Errant Fool
So THAT's what the hubbub was about! With the volume off, it was hard to figure out what was going on with the individual matches, particularly when I was watching it with one eye on the football. It was nice to see the old-timers out in force though!
3 - Chris Beaumont
Yeah, that was good to see, mainly Snuka. But some of those guys have real class, not like some of the younger talent.
4 - The Errant Fool
Snuka looked really old. He could barely scuttle up the turnbuckles... but it was cool to see - a blast from the past, so to speak.
5 - Tan The Man
Gotta love Superfly...
6 - Gil
Superfly rules. He is 63 years old now so got to cut him some slack! What a legend!