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Worst in the World: Giant Baba vs Bulldog Bob Brown-WrestleRock 86

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Special thanks to Otter Empire for suggesting this match. If you'd like to see a match covered on the Worst in the World, leave a comment down below.
WrestleRock...be there. In 1986, the AWA was falling behind the WWF and the NWA in terms of popularity, with WrestleRock being the final stadium show would run before shutting down in 1991. While most of the AWA's biggest stars, most notably Hulk Hogan, were gone, the card still featured some big names like Harley Race, Stan Hansen, the Road Warriors, and Bruiser Brody (under the name King Kong Bundy) and most of the matches were still entertaining. Giant Baba vs Bulldog Bob Brown...not so much. Baba, a legendary Japanese wrestler and future co-founder of All Japan Pro Wrestling, might have been giant compared to the people he worked with, standing at 6'10 (or 7'4 because you round up in wrestling), but from what I've seen he was still a talented wrestler for his size. Brown, on the other hand, has very little info available for him, but he's primarily known for his time in Central States Wrestling. Let's get into this...but not before I talk about the WrestleRock Rumble.
Just a few months before in December 1985, the Chicago Bears released "The Super Bowl Shuffle" a rap song featuring the players rapping a couple of verses about how they were ready to win the Super Bowl...which was two months away and the Bears were not guaranteed to make. It's truly one of the biggest flexes of confidence in sports history. The Bears end up winning the Super Bowl that year, but that's not important, what is important is the song. While super cheesy, especially by today's standards, the song was insanely popular, cracking the top 50 on the Billboard Hot 100 and even getting a Grammy nomination. To put that in perspective, the 1985 Chicago Bears have the same amount of Grammy nominations as Run-DMC. The 80s were wild. With the success of the Super Bowl Shuffle came many, many, many...many imitators. Whether they be other NFL teams, other sports teams, or, in this case, wrestling promoters, many people banked off the success of the Bears' hit and created their own versions. And when I say "created" I mean used the same verse structures and beats just with different lyrics. The WrestleRock Rumble is especially heinous in how blatant it is, using just about the exact same instrumental. I guess Verne Gagne went to the Jimmy Hart school of songwriting and toeing the line of copyright.
Here are some of the highlights of the infamous WrestleRock Rumble, probably the most memorable thing about this show.
  • Interviewer Ken Resnick starting off his verse with the most generic way to start a rap song "This is Ken Resnick and I'm here to say-"
  • The multiple Las Vegas performers who found out what the AWA was five minutes before filming telling you to watch WrestleRock
  • The Midnight Rockers' stunted rapping while clips of them at a children's birthday party play.
  • Sheik Adnan Al-Kaissey being unable to rap or stay on the beat in broken English, which is probably because he's not a native English speaker
  • Jerry Blackwell doing just as bad despite being a natural English speaker while a clip of him splashing a thin plank of wood plays.
  • Greg Gagne shout-rapping like he's NF but angrier
  • Curt Hennig & "Big" Scott Hall emerging from a pool and then getting pushed back in.
  • Nick Bockwinkel & Larry Zbysko actually killing it.
  • Scott LeDoux mumbling...a lot.
  • 60-year old Verne Gange reading his verse off a sheet of paper.
  • Ken Resnick returning for a bad verse to close out the song.
As the French would say, Magnifique. So now, let's get to the match.
The two lock up, with Baba pushing Brown into the corner slowly and softly. Brown gets the better of the second lock-up until he gets pushed into the ropes, but stops himself to avoid a shoulder block from Baba. That...that actually makes a lot of sense. Baba gains the upper hand with a wristlock, but Brown breaks the hold with a chop and an eye poke. Baba responds with a chop of his own before Brown goes for a takedown, but Baba blocks it and pushes Brown back before hitting an arm drag and locking in a wristlock/headscissor combo. Brown fights to his feet, but Baba keeps control until Brown pokes the eye again. Brown chokes Baba against the ropes, breaking and reapplying the hold so he doesn't get DQ'd. This isn't exciting, but not terrible.
Baba fights back with strikes and a chop, dazing Brown and sending him into the corner. The two go for a test of strength spot, with Baba gaining the advantage before flooring Brown with knees and kicks. Baba steps on Brown, but Brown gets back his feet and goes back to the eye pokes before biting Baba's nose. More eye pokes and throat shots before Brown hits a snapmare, but Baba dodges a leg drop and hits a chop, which Brown bumps for way too late. Baba follows up with a Russian leg sweep before hitting a chop and a big boot for the three and the win.

The Verdict

Honestly, it's not really that bad. It's not good, but I've seen far worse. Baba was better than I expected and while Bulldog was super limited, seemingly only knowing how to do heel tactics like eye pokes and choking, it didn't really make the match unwatchable. It's not worth watching, but it's passable I'd say.

Rankings (Best to Worst)

  1. Rick Rude vs Jake Roberts-WrestleMania IV
  2. Too Much vs Al Snow & Head-King of the Ring 1998
  3. Randy Orton vs Bray Wyatt-WrestleMania 33
  4. Vampiro vs Sting-Great American Bash 2000
  5. T&A vs Head Cheese-WrestleMania 2000
  6. Triple H vs Sgt. Slaughter-D-Generation X: In Your House
  7. Konnan vs One Man Gang-SuperBrawl VI
  8. Ultimate Warrior vs Hercules-WrestleMania IV
  9. Rick Rude vs Hawk-Clash of the Champions XXV
  10. Shelton Benjamin vs Viscera-New Year's Revolution 2006
  11. Steve McMichael vs Reggie White-Slamboree 1997
  12. The Tag Team Fatal 4-Way Match-WrestleMania 13
  13. Tag Team Battle Royal-WrestleMania XIV
  14. The Chamber of Horrors-Halloween Havoc 1991
  15. The Natural Disasters vs Money Inc.-WrestleMania VIII
  16. Ivan Koloff vs Paul Jones-Clash of the Champions IV
  17. ODB, Taylor Wilde, and Roxxi vs The Kongtourage-Genesis 2009
  18. Ivory vs Tori-SummerSlam 1999
  19. Giant Baba vs Bulldog Bob Brown-WrestleRock
  20. The Reverse Battle Royal-Impact! (10/26/2006)
  21. Jerry Blackwell vs Boris Zhukov-SuperClash II
  22. Nikita Koloff vs Bobby Eaton-Bunkhouse Stampede
  23. Alex Wright vs Steve McMichael-Halloween Havoc 1997
  24. The Great Khali vs Kane-WrestleMania 23
  25. Savio Vega vs Crush vs Faarooq-Ground Zero: In Your House
  26. The Shockmaster vs Awesome/King Kong-Starrcade 1993
  27. Total Divas vs Other Divas-Survivor Series 2013
  28. The Oddities vs Kaientai-SummerSlam 1998
  29. Hulk Hogan vs Sid Justice-WrestleMania VIII
  30. Paul Ellering vs Teddy Long-Capital Combat
  31. Dusty Rhodes vs Big Boss Man-Saturday Night's Main Event (10/31/1989)
  32. Tyson Tomko vs Stevie Richards-Unforgiven 2004
  33. Kane vs The Great Khali-SummerSlam 2009
  34. Hollywood Hogan vs The Giant-Hog Wild
  35. Hollywood Hogan vs The Giant-Souled Out 1997
  36. Dustin Rhodes & King Kong vs Awesome Kong & The Equalizer-Battlebowl
  37. Finlay & Little Bastard vs The Boogeyman & Little Boogeyman-No Way Out 2007
  38. Jake Roberts vs Andre the Giant-WrestleMania V
  39. Yokozuna vs King Mabel-In Your House 4
  40. Dusty Rhodes vs The Honky Tonk Man-SummerSlam 1989
  41. Sting & Hawk vs Meng & Kurasawa-Clash of the Champions XXXI
  42. Hulk Hogan vs Randy Savage-Uncensored 1998
  43. Al Snow vs Big Boss Man-Unforgiven 1999
  44. Mickie James vs Ashley-Royal Rumble 2006
  45. Christy Hemme vs Big Fat Oily Guy-Against All Odds 2007
  46. Stevie Ray vs Konnan-World War 3 1998
  47. Vampiro vs The KISS Demon-Bash at the Beach 2000
  48. Team WCW vs nWo Wolfpac vs nWo Hollywood-Fall Brawl 1998
  49. Vampiro vs Oklahoma-Starrcade 1999
  50. Hulk Hogan vs Andre the Giant-WrestleMania III
  51. Van Hammer vs Terrance Taylor-Clash of the Champions XVI
  52. Junkyard Dog vs Moondog Spot-Wrestling Classic
  53. The Undertaker vs Goldberg-Super ShowDown 2019
  54. Hiroshi Wajima vs Tom Magee-All Japan Pro Wrestling 1988
  55. Jim Duggan vs Big Boss Man-Royal Rumble 1990
  56. Meng vs Jim Duggan-Uncensored 1995
  57. Jim Steele vs The Equalizer-SuperBrawl IV
  58. The Undertaker vs Giant González-WrestleMania IX
  59. Sting vs Tony Palmore-Battle 7
  60. D-Generation X vs Brothers of Destruction-Crown Jewel
  61. Wendi Richter vs Leilani Kai-WrestleMania
  62. Goldberg vs Brock Lesnar-WrestleMania XX
  63. Edge vs Triple H vs Vladimir Kozlov-Survivor Series 2008
  64. Kevin Sullivan vs Dave Sullivan-SuperBrawl V
  65. Steve McMichael vs Brian Adams-Road Wild 1998
  66. Scott Hall vs Roddy Piper-SuperBrawl IX
  67. Boris Zhukov vs Paul Samson-Beach Brawl
  68. Kane vs The Great Khali-Breaking Point
  69. PN News & Bobby Eaton vs Steve Austin & Terrance Taylor-Great American Bash 1991
  70. Scott Steiner vs Sid Vicious vs Jeff Jarrett vs Road Warrior Animal-Sin
  71. Hollywood Hogan vs Roddy Piper-SuperBrawl 1997
  72. Batista vs The Great Khali-SummerSlam 2007
  73.  Sable vs Tori-WrestleMania XV
  74. Super Invader vs Todd Champion-WrestleWar 1992
  75. King Kong Bundy & Jim Neidhart vs Yokozuna & Jake Roberts-Heroes of Wrestling
  76. Sid Vicious vs The Nightstalker-Clash of the Champions XIII
  77. The 8-Divas Tag Match-Survivor Series 1999
  78. The Fabulous Freebirds vs The Renegade Warriors-Halloween Havoc 1990
  79. The Knockouts Gauntlet-One Night Only: Live! 2016
  80. AJ Styles vs Frank Trigg-No Surrender 2008
  81. Rick Rude vs Masahiro Chono-Halloween Havoc 1992
  82. Mike Awesome vs Vampiro-Halloween Havoc 2000
  83. Bray Wyatt vs John Cena-Extreme Rules 2014
  84. Brothers of Destruction vs KroniK-Unforgiven 2001
  85. Mabel vs The Undertaker-King of the Ring 1995
  86. Wendi Richter vs The Fabulous Moolah-The Brawl to End it All
  87. David Flair vs Kimberly Page-Mayhem 1999
  88. The Truth Commission vs The Disciples of Apocolypse-Survivor Series 1997
  89. The Bushwhacker vs The Fabulous Rougeaus-WrestleMania V
  90. The Beverly Brothers vs The Bushwhackers-Royal Rumble 1992
  91. Teddy Long vs Eric Bischoff-Survivor Series 2005
  92. Greg Valentine vs George Steele-Heroes of Wrestling
  93. Abdullah the Butcher vs One Man Gang-Heroes of Wrestling
  94. Major Gunns vs Miss Hancock-New Blood Rising
  95. Bradshaw & Trish Stratus vs Christopher Nowinski & Jackie Gayda-RAW (7/8/2002)
  96. Triple H vs Scott Steiner-Royal Rumble 2003
  97. Kevin Nash vs Scott Steiner vs Goldberg-New Blood Rising
  98. Hollywood Hogan vs The Warrior-Halloween Havoc 1998
  99. Mr. T vs Roddy Piper-WrestleMania 2
  100. The Royal Family vs Clowns R' Us-Survivor Series 1994
  101. The Blacktop Bully vs Dustin Rhodes-Uncensored 1995
  102. Team Dos Caras vs Team El Canek-Leyendas Mexicanas 2017
  103. Pat Patterson vs Gerald Brisco-King of the Ring 2000
  104. The Four Doinks vs Team Bigelow-Survivor Series 1993
  105. Sting vs Jeff Hardy-Victory Road 2011
  106. Oz vs Tim Parker-SuperBrawl
  107. The Mighty Maccabee vs The Iron Sheik-Maccabiah Mania II: Shekel Slam
  108. Van Hammer vs Doug Somers-Halloween Havoc 1991
  109. Ultimate Warrior vs Andre the Giant-Saturday Night's Main Event (11/25/1989)
  110. Jeff Jarrett vs Sting-Halloween Havoc 2000
  111. The Doomsday Cage Match-Uncensored 1996
  112. Kane vs The Undertaker-Judgement Day 1998
  113. Rebel vs Shelly Martinez-One Night Only: Knockouts Knockdown
  114. Kaitlyn vs Maxine-NXT (10/19/2010)
  115. Sabu vs The Sandman-November to Remember 1997
  116. Seth Rollins vs "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt-Hell in a Cell 2019
  117. Michael Cole vs Jerry Lawler-WrestleMania XXVII
  118. The Bushwhackers vs Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff-Heroes of Wrestling
  119. James Storm vs Chris Harris-Lockdown 2007
  120. John Laurinaitis vs John Cena-Over the Limit 2012
  121. Ultimate Warrior vs Goldust-In Your House 7
  122. Los Villanos vs Los Psycho Circus-Triplemania XXIII
  123. Jenna Morasca vs Sharmell-Victory Road 2009
Thanks for reading! Be sure to share if you enjoy and leave any suggestions for matches you'd like to see covered on the Worst in the World. Until next time.
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