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Post by srossi on Apr 14, 2024 17:41:39 GMT
Long-time California indy star Tony Jones has died at 53. Jones is best known for his time in APW and his appearance in the 1999 documentary "Beyond the Mat", where one of the featured stories was Jones and Michael Modest getting a WWF tryout. In addition to the tryout match, Jones had a few other matches for the WWF over the years, including jobs in the early 2000s to Raven, Eugene, Gene Snitsky, and the Basham Brothers on shows such as Heat, Velocity, and Jakked. Jones was a former APW Universal champion and 5-time APW Tag champion. He also won the UPW Southern California Heavyweight title. His last match was in 2017.
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Post by OneFanGang on Apr 14, 2024 18:28:10 GMT
"Jones is good, but Modest is ready."
Beyond the Mat quote that I always felt was a nice passive way to let Jones down easily. I remember this being the point where WWF was choosing talent with more of a casting call aspect rather than thru wrestling lenses. Jones might have gotten a look similar to The Pug aka Alex Porteau a year or two previously, but at this point their feedback could now be as basic as "we're looking for somebody...else."
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Post by gregoliver on Apr 14, 2024 20:08:01 GMT
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Post by Franchise on Apr 15, 2024 3:07:31 GMT
Ive always been surprised Jones, Morgan and Modest didnt become bigger stars. I always enjoyed seeing all 3 of them on the indies and they seemed to be at the cusp for a while.
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Post by The Ultimate Sin on Apr 15, 2024 4:35:23 GMT
"Jones is good, but Modest is ready." Beyond the Mat quote that I always felt was a nice passive way to let Jones down easily. I remember this being the point where WWF was choosing talent with more of a casting call aspect rather than thru wrestling lenses. Jones might have gotten a look similar to The Pug aka Alex Porteau a year or two previously, but at this point their feedback could now be as basic as "we're looking for somebody...else." Who said that? I thought it was their promoter. I didn't think Vince seemed impressed with them. Modest did his finisher and Vince said something like, what the hell was that? The promoter said the Modestdriver or some shit and Vince said, "Work on it!" Then the Promoter told Modest Vince said that line, but he never did, at least not on camera. At least that's the way I have it in my hazy brain. I might me wrong. |
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Post by srossi on Apr 15, 2024 4:38:18 GMT
"Jones is good, but Modest is ready." Beyond the Mat quote that I always felt was a nice passive way to let Jones down easily. I remember this being the point where WWF was choosing talent with more of a casting call aspect rather than thru wrestling lenses. Jones might have gotten a look similar to The Pug aka Alex Porteau a year or two previously, but at this point their feedback could now be as basic as "we're looking for somebody...else." Who said that? I thought it was their promoter. I didn't think Vince seemed impressed with them. Modest did his finisher and Vince said something like, what the hell was that? The promoter said the Modestdriver or some shit and Vince said, "Work on it!" Then the Promoter told Modest Vince said that line, but he never did, at least not on camera. At least that's the way I have it in my hazy brain. I might me wrong. I remember one dropped the other on his head, or close to it, and JR and everyone around the monitor (maybe Vince was there too) cringed. And that was it for them. It's been MANY years since I've seen the film, but that's my recollection. |
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Post by The Ultimate Sin on Apr 15, 2024 5:14:44 GMT
Who said that? I thought it was their promoter. I didn't think Vince seemed impressed with them. Modest did his finisher and Vince said something like, what the hell was that? The promoter said the Modestdriver or some shit and Vince said, "Work on it!" Then the Promoter told Modest Vince said that line, but he never did, at least not on camera. At least that's the way I have it in my hazy brain. I might me wrong. I remember one dropped the other on his head, or close to it, and JR and everyone around the monitor (maybe Vince was there too) cringed. And that was it for them. It's been MANY years since I've seen the film, but that's my recollection. It's around the 15 minute mark when they wrestle. Vince says, "That a nice bridge. A nice wrestling move for a change." Then when Jones almost drops Modest on his head they all cringe and Vince says, "Jesus Christ, I think we need a little work there." He leaves shortly after and tells Corny to get him a video tape. J.R. walks away and says I love the effort. He tells Jones to get on steroids without actually saying it. Roland says, "They said, Jones has a lot of potential, but Modest is ready." No one from the WWE actually said that, unless it was off camera. |
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Post by OneFanGang on Apr 15, 2024 14:32:33 GMT
I think the way Roland sugar-coated things was a key point in what Blaustein wanted to show; so many people are blinded by the bright lights and clouded by their dreams that any hope of realizing them is something to cling to. I forget who saw one of the moves made in the tryout match which was innovative, but immediately another wrestler mentions he is going to steal it. That's another lesson aspiring talents learn along the way... their unique ideas can be easily featured by someone else on a higher platform.
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Post by Kriss on Apr 15, 2024 14:46:34 GMT
I think the way Roland sugar-coated things was a key point in what Blaustein wanted to show; so many people are blinded by the bright lights and clouded by their dreams that any hope of realizing them is something to cling to. I forget who saw one of the moves made in the tryout match which was innovative, but immediately another wrestler mentions he is going to steal it. That's another lesson aspiring talents learn along the way... their unique ideas can be easily featured by someone else on a higher platform. The move that Vince doesn't like is a fisherman's buster (the move looked fine, even though Vince said it needed work), then he leaves. Modest's finisher was a vertebreaker. Steve Austin was the guy who said he was stealing the move. Shane Helms started using the move in WWF a few years later until it quickly became a banned move. It's interesting watching it back. Jim Cornette likes them and is impressed that the crowd aren't shitting on them, which apparently happened to most guys in tryout dark matches. Jim Ross knows the unspoken truth, that Modest was too short, and Jones not muscular enough ("he has a good frame"), for Vince. |
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