Jose Lothario Wished He Weighed a Thousand Pounds, So He Could Crush All Those Bullies and Demons Down

Jose Lothario vs. Tonga John WCCW 11/19/83 - FUN

PAS: Tonga John is the future Barbarian and it is interesting to watch him this early. He is pretty much a punch and kick guy at this point, and you don't want to try to punch it out with Jose Lothario, even at this point. This was very much an opening match on a TV card with all that entails, but Jose threw some really great looking hooks and even went up top twice, once with an axhandle, once with the bombs away to win. Lothario still looked great at this point, and if Tonga John had a little of the seasoning he was going to get, I could see this theoretically being a banger but in actuality it was more of a curiosity.

Jose Lothario vs. Jim Cornette WWF Mind Games 9/22/96 - FUN

ER: This match is only 1 minute and basically worked like the Bossman/Heenan matches a few years prior, with Cornette's lumpy body elegantly squeezed into tights, talking trash before the match (loved him shoving Finkel as he grabbed the mic away) until Lothario comes out to shut him up. Cornette naturally gets no offense, it's all Lothario haymakers and that downward chop to Cornette's nose. Cornette is a really great stooge bumper, we've seen dozens of enhancement guys over the years who couldn't put over an opponent this well. I do wish Lothario would have laced into Cornette on his final two punches. They were worked well but thrown too open handed. But I liked Lothario decking him with a right and thinking about going for the pin, but then calling for one more and decking him with a left. It's so weird that this PPV had a Vader/Sid match as a dark match, but aired this. I'm glad they did, but it's gotta be a major sign of Michaels' pull with Vince. I mean who at home was buying this PPV for Lothario/Cornette when Vader/Sid could have been on the table?

PAS: Obviously not a ton to write about a 90 second match, but Cornette is a really athletic bumper for a guy who looks like he doesn't have an ounce of athleticism, and Lothario still threw a mean punch into his 60s.. We got to see all the variations, the right, the left and the uppercut and Cornette took them all like a champ.


COMPLETE AND ACCURATE JOSE LOTHARIO