With great pleasure, Mr. Mal is pleased to turn over this week’s edition of Old School Sundays to an old standby here on our site — you know him, you love him . . . well, let’s be honest, you’ve probably forgotten about him — The Troublemaker. Fresh off his three-continent tour including the climes of Africa and the Far East, still retaining a residence in Parts Unknown, ladies and gentleman . . . The Troublemaker! Let’s sit back a spell while our hooded host offers up a sampling of the career of one of the more infamous pro wrestlers of the 1980s, Dr. D David Shultz, a man so nasty, so mean, so vile, that Mr. Mal heard he done killed a dozen men — one of ‘em just fer snoring too loud!! Actually, that was Jesse James (the outlaw, not the former DX member). And that story was actually from an old Time-Life books commerical. But this Shultz is one bad hombre in his own right. Trust me. Don’t believe Mr. Mal? Listen to The Troublemaker tell ya all about’im!

The Troublemaker
Wrestlers Ramblings.com wrestling news

When Dr. D David Schultz cuffed John Stossel around on ABC’s 20/20 it was deemed by many viewers as part of the show. After all Stossel had just exposed the business as a fraud or in his own words as being “fake.â€? Along with Geraldo Rivera’s unearthing of  of Al Capone’s hidden vaults, it established the 80’s as perhaps the lamest decade since the invention of the TV. According to Stossel, he set out to prove pro rasslin’ wasn’t on the up and up after an ABC viewer poll revealed that one third of their audience thought that pro wrestling was real. Having grappled himself back in high school, this irked Stossel enough to enter Madison Square Garden with his camera crew and a notebook filled with questions designed to belittle Vince McMahon or whoever else dared defend the business.

Unfortunately for Stossel, he was unknowingly walking into a hornet’s nest. Having primed perhaps his toughest employee – and certifiable nut – Dr. D, with Stossel’s itinerary, the backstage interview Stossel sought was about to become more than physical than he had bargained for. Having previously recorded a segment with disgruntled former wrestler Eddie Mansfield in which he executed a few take downs and body slams – not to mention the method wrestlers employ to draw blood – Stossel was armed with hard evidence that wrestling was in fact a staged endeavor with a pre-determined outcome. Duh.

The interview that followed was a forerunner to any that Stone Cold Steve Austin would do more than a decade later. Looking back, Dr. D was a little Paul Orndorff, Stan Hansen and Austin all rolled into one. After watching several You Tube clips of the good Doctor, I can’t help but think that like Superstar Billy Graham, he was just a little ahead of his time. Always known as a legitimate tough guy, Schultz is now regarded as the top bounty hunter in the U.S, having brought over 1700 fugitives to justice. To me though Schultz will forever be the guy I emulated in grade school by jumping off  the gym stage onto the high jump mats with his signature off the second rope diving elbow drop.

NOTE: Hey all. Mr. Mal back again. Just a quick heads-up that, in addition to the now notorious confrontation between Shultz and Stossel, we also have a great treat here again on Old School Sundays, the late, great Andre the Giant with his old, flowing locks going toe-to-toe with the good Doctor! While the slaps may have effectively ended Shultz’s pro wrestling career, thanks to YouTube, us fans can still enjoy his work today, in the here and now. He surely would have been a major player in the 80s WWF. Oh, what might have been . . .

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The Troublemaker
Wrestlers Ramblings.com wrestling news

The sight and spectacle that was Wrestlemania 23 proved with little doubt that sometimes it’s who is booking the card that counts - as opposed to who is actually donning the tights and boots. With a roster stacked higher than a double order of hot cakes at the corner greasy spoon, the backstage powers-that-be rolled out a puzzling match poster scant with secondary title bouts if not less-than intriguing story lines. Wrestlemania is, after all, the New Years Eve of WWE events, a card that is supposed to tie up loose ends and perhaps create some new plot twists. As a critic who always demands excellence when paying exorbient prices for live or PPV events, I must say the WWE dropped the ball on many fronts Sunday at Ford Field.

To hold any PPV - much less Mania - without including a World Tag Title match is a travesty in the booking department that should force heads to roll. In a company that numbers far too many employees on the payroll to begin with, the WWE needs a diversion for nearly half the roster to take part in. As of now it sometimes resembles a bloated operation whose excess employee’s mill around the water cooler waiting to punch their time cards.

As a critic, the above comments may lead you to believe that the card was a downer for your favorite masked fatalist. On the contrary, I actually had the time of my life simply absorbing the vibes and atmosphere from the time we parked the car to the post event radio show that recapped the night’s festivities on our way home. With victories notched by Cena, Taker’ and Mr. Kennedy . . . K-e-n-n-e-d-y, I couldn’t have picked more favorable results had I tried. Still it was the less than stellar moments that make me question the direction the WWE is heading as we embark on the new mat season.

What were they thinking? – The Khali vs. Kane bout shaped up as a snoozer from the failed Kane pyro to the first collar and elbow. With a smattering of b-o-r-i-n-g chants (rumored to have been started by two masked men) wafting through the crowd this one mercilessly ended with Khali getting the duke with merely his right foot executing the cover. Strange. It was the type of ending I remember Mid-South’s Bill Watts employing when one of his stars were about to fly the coup to New York. I may be jumping the gun here but in my opinion Kane’s career has been irreparably damaged.

Bad hair day – Bobby Lashley (representing Donald Trump) vs. Umaga (with Armando Alejandro Estrada, representing Vince McMahon) - This match was pin-drop dead until Shane and Daddy Dearest saved the day at the midway point with some timely interference. I like both Lashley and Umaga; they just don’t play well together in this writer’s opinion. Let me just say here and now that The Donald  finished first by a whisker in the race for least charismatic performer. Second place went to the less–than-Great Khali. Here’s hoping we never have to endure Trump in wrestling circles ever again. Unless of course he would like to reprise Pete Rose’s roll in the chicken suit.

Not fair to Flair (or Carlito) – Relegating the greatest wrestler of all time and the man he is taking under his wing to a two bit dark match is about as close to a slap in the face as you can get. Considering that Hulk Hogan would probably only settle for a headlining roll in any comeback, you have wonder how hard up the Nature Boy is for money. It’s the WWE’s loss though if you ask me. Judging by the number of whoo’s I heard before, during and after the show I wouldn’t say it’s too much of a stretch to envision Flair walkin’ that aisle with ten pounds of gold around his waist just one more time.

All photos copyright WrestlersRamblings.com and Mr. Mal Occhio. Use without prior permission is prohibited.

The Troublemaker
Wrestlers Ramblings.com wrestling news

Recent news that the Big Show plans to retire from the WWE makes the Troublemaker shake his head in a manner that screams, “I told you so.�

Depressed and in constant pain from the daily grind that is employment in Vince McMahon’s wrestling machine, The Show has been rumored to be seeking immediate refuge from the world of body slams and chair shots. In hind sight I hope the brainiacs running the WWE have come to realize that not all performers are created equal. Some, like the late great Andre the Giant are a different breed that need to booked and handled with care.

The real shame of it all is in that after many years of essentially spinning his wheels at the mid – card level, The Show has finally reached his potential as the true superstar he was meant to be. At exactly what point the big fella finally declared enough is enough is uncertain, but it is rumored that those behind the WWE curtain are hoping that somehow they can convince Show to stick around until at least April in hope that some type of match can be set up with Hulk Hogan to commemorate the 20 year anniversary of Wrestlemania III. If those plans do pan out let’s all pray that  some exorbitant amount of money doesn’t convince The Show to job in the center of the ring the way Andre did 20 years ago.

Monday Night Raw - The reunion of DX has been treated with derision and scorn on many fronts. Yeah HHH and HBK are a little long in the tooth for some of the juvenile antics captured on RAW each week, but then again if the promotion has room for a 79 – year old Ric Flair what’s the harm in a few silly vignettes for the sake of levity? Honestly, what do you expect the WWE to do with HHH when he’s not headlining for extended periods of time? Long a critic of  “The Game� myself – mostly because I’ve felt rightly or wrongly that this guy has gotten every break imaginable -  I must admit the man has as much crossover appeal and charisma as any performer in history. Nobody in the game today can flip/flop from heel to face and steal the show like ol’ Hunter. Take this past Monday night when Team RKO bludgeoned DX in a display unlike I’ve seen since maybe the time Ken Patera and John Studd cut Andre’s hair. This guy actually had the sellout crowd crying in the aisles for a character who has been sledge hammering their favorites for years now. Just when I think the inner – mark in me has faded, a moment like this restores my faith in the shock appeal of the squared circle. As a matter of fact, on this blogger’s shock meter the episode ranks somewhere between Paul Orndorff turning on Hogan and the time the Road Warriors turned on the wildly popular Sting. Both of those events happened almost 20 years ago. Whew! As a cynical critic, the times are few and far between when I declare the state of wrestling to be ahem . . . healthy, however the last two months have been absolutely sizzling as this Motor City Masked Man counts down the days to Wrestlemania.