TPWW Forums - View Single Post

**Seth82** · 03-04-2012, 09:54 PM

Here's the March 4th 1985 Edition of Wrestling Observer

Cover
*Steamboat press-slamming Flair with the headline “The End of an Era.”

Pulling No Punches
*Dave comments on the 20/20 piece involving Eddy Mansfield and Jim Wilson. Also, John Stossell getting slapped around by David Schults.

*Mansfield demonstrated how wrestlers “fake it,” even blading himself. Dave doesn’t think it will negatively affect the business at all. Dave says Mansfield didn’t lose his job for going to the media, but because he often no-showed bookings.

*Apparently, Wilson claims he was kicked out of wrestling for refusing to do homosexual favors for a promoter. Dave says he wasn’t kicked out for this, but because he’s a horrible worker who refused to do jobs.

*Dave was contacted by Stossell a few days before the piece ran. He wasn’t impressed by Stossell because he only knew what Wilson, Mansfield and Hulk Hogan had told him. He didn’t do any other research.

*Dave thinks that if someone went up to 50 journalists and told each of them repeatedly that their profession was phony, one of the journalists would eventually smack you around like Schults did with Stossell.

*Dave says in many ways journalism is more fake than wrestling because reporters have to report on things they know nothing about (as a journalist myself, Dave has a good point here).

*Dave says the only part of the 20/20 piece that was sloppy instead of shallow was when McMahon was not challenged when he said he has never done anything to keep other promotions out of buildings. Overall, Dave was entertained by the report but not really informed.

Mr. Mike’s Mondo Wrestling
*Mike is upset that the AWA doesn’t know how to use its talent pool. Brody is also gone and Mike didn’t think he was ever really used right.

*Slaughter’s reception at the 1/13 St. Paul show was so-so. The show drew a disappointing 11,000.

*John Nord debuted and Mike sees big things for him if he’s able to talk.

*Mike commends the marketing skills of McMahon for the Hogan-Piper MTV match. He says wrestling is close to being a genuine fad and it will be cool to like.

*Mike says Vince struggles to convince people in local markets that his product is good. However, he convinces the “important people,” the TV and advertising execs, that his product is good because it’s popular in New York.

*The 2/1 Pro Wrestling USA tapings were held in St. Paul. Mike said they were ok with the highlight being a Terry Funk appearance.

*Mike thought the 20/20 piece was good fun and will help the wrestling business grow as a fad.

*Mike is disturbed by the fan reaction to Garvin’s valet, Precious. People have taken it beyond fun and it’s now a little disturbing (Precious got attacked by a fan and needed 18 stitches a few weeks back).

Newspaper Reprints
*There’s a story and obit piece about Eddie Graham’s suicide.

*There’s a puff-piece about McMahon from some trade magazine.

*There’s a piece from the Tulsa World about Mid-South and its use of wrestlers in country music videos.

Inside Japan Wrestling
*Business is way up for All Japan, way down for New Japan. New Japan sold out wherever it went in ’83 and ’84 but can’t draw 3,000 per night in ’85.

*Several All Japan wresters have started wrestling a faster pace to keep up w/ Choshu’s style.

*Tsuruta and Choshu met several times in tag matches, but they didn’t go over real well. Tsuruta is feuding w/ Yatsu instead.

*All Japan TV show will move to prime time once baseball season ends. This will severely damage Inoki, but Inoki still holds a prime time slot on Friday night.

*Road Warriors and Ellering will be in from 3/8-3/14 and will get $10,000 apiece.

*Rumors that the AWA offered to send talent to New Japan for $120,000 per year. The company is paying WWF $500,000 in ’85 for talent.

*Rumors that Inoki is planning a bout between himself and Larry Holmes in either Tokyo or Los Angeles.

*Super Tiger now appearing w/out a mask in UWF.

*UWF’s president is out of jail on bail, but the company’s future still looks bleak.
Letters from Readers
*One letter saying that Florida wrestling isn’t so bad. The usual WWF bashing. One anonymous writer talking about how WWF is finally getting things right and are selling out arenas throughout the country.

WWF
*Dave says the WWF is riding the crest of a wave that is the biggest in wrestling in more than a decade. Crowds are way up, except in areas like Dallas or St. Paul

*The wave will lead to a closed-circuit MSG card headlined by Hogan-T/Piper-Orndorff.

*Dave praised the MTV special leading up to the Hogan/Piper MSG bout. He said it went off w/out a hitch and the celebrity tie-ins made it feel that you’re with the “in” crowd by watching wrestling.

*He says Piper proved that he is the most valuable commodity in wrestling right now and summarized the Hogan/Piper match and ensuing angle w/ Mr. T.

*Dave says Hogan has become an awful wrestler. He used to be just OK, now he’s terrible. He says Hogan comes across well to first-time viewers, but he’s not sure how many first-timers are watching WWF compared to actual wrestling fans.

*Dave says McMahon needs to capitalize on the Mr. T angle and try to turn all the non-wrestling fans that will be interested in the angle into wrestling fans. Dave doesn’t think Mr. T being involved in wrestling will negatively impact the business long term.

*Jimmy Hart and Jim Neidhart due in 2/12. King Kong Bundy coming in March. Rumors that Steamboat is also coming in March. Gone are Schults, Mulligan, Briscos, Adonis and Murdoch. Schults was fired for trying to jump Mr. T. He was fined $3,000 for beating up Stossell.

*Bret Hart, who Dave says was once good, is being wasted in the WWF.

*Highlights how the WWF is going into the home video business. Also highlights other WWF merchandise coming out, including Hulk Hogan dolls. Dave wonders if the dolls will have spots to insert needles.

*Latest WWF TV ratings are up slightly.

Northeast Opposition
*2/5 Philly show by Crocketts drew 3,770. Fan reports say it was good, but TV stations reported it the lowest attended card in a long time. Flair/Slaughter will headline 2/28.

*Crockett should be taking over most northern cities run by Ole soon.

Northwest
*Billy Haynes returned 2/2.

Southwest
*Buck Robley is now booking and Eric Embry has apparently bought the ownership of the company from Joe Blanchard.

World Class
*Von Erichs were on Los Angeles TV to announce they would run live shows there in the future.

*Dave thinks Chris Adams is the best heel in the country right now.

Mid-South
*Best matches on this circuit involve Dibiase/Duggan.

*Speculating that Kimala may be turned face.

*2/15 in Houston drew 5,600. Watts ran Houston again six days later, one day before the WWF came in for a show.

*Mid-South’s TV show won its time slot in 15 of 23 slots around the circuit, including up against college football in some cases.

*Duggan has done some recent music videos with country singers. Dave says Mid-South is going all out w/ the videos, which he doesn’t mind if it doesn’t get in the way of wrestling. He thinks it eventually will, however.

AWA
*Rumors that the AWA may soon give up on Martel as a champ that can draw. Dave isn’t sure who else to give the title to, however. Slaughter doesn’t need a belt, Bockwinkle is still good but fans perceive him as too old and Masked Superstar doesn’t really fit.

*Fans are getting worn out on Slaughter because he’s being pushed as the second coming.

*Drew 5,300 on 1/30 in San Fran, about triple what they had been drawing. Baron/Hennigs def. Roadies/Ellering when Baron pinned Ellering. Fans cheered the Roadies until they started to run away from the Baron’s claw. Fans started throwing plastic cups at the Roadies, which they caught, stuck down the crotch of their trunks, and threw back at the fans. They did the same thing in Puerto Rico, only w/ rocks.

*Main reason the Fabs left was because they were sick of the Roadies no-selling.

*Chicago and Salt Lake each drew 9,000.

Memphis
*A snowstorm forced some shows to recently be cancelled.

*Rumors that Lawler will soon win NWA title from Flair.

Florida
*Word is that the territory will be reorganized w/ Mike Graham giving control to Dusty.

*Percy Pringle in the area as a manager.

*Dave says the Freebirds are the only good thing going in this territory.

Georgia
*Several new workers in from Abdulla the Butcher’s training school.

*T-Bolt Patterson’s suit against the NWA was recently settled out of court. T-Bolt got $50,000 from Barnett and Crockett will pay him $2,000 per week to wrestle. T-Bolt signed to no longer stand w/ Mansfield and Wilson in their lawsuits.

Mid-Atlantic
*Magnum TA getting a big push.

*Speculation that Steamboat left because Dusty wanted to turn him heel.

Update
*AWA on 2/20 in San Fran was awful and drew 1,981.

*NWA on 2/20 in Pittsburgh drew 750 and was also terrible.

*WWF sold out Indianapolis, but only drew about 800 in Oklahoma.

*Rumors that two groups may start running Calgary, one led by Cuban Assasin and one as a Stampede revival. Bad News Allan and Bruce Hart are battling over who will book the Stampede group. Brett, Davey Boy and Dynamite won’t work unless Bruce books.

*Lawler making arrangements to bring in Dynamite and Davey Boy.

*Steamboat definitely scheduled for 3/5 WWF taping in Poughkeepsie.

*Orndorff has dropped weight for his series w/ Hogan. They want to have Hogan do several power moves so it helps if Orndorff is lighter.

*Dave thinks it would be “interesting” if Piper and T “go against the grain” at Wrestlemania.

*Expect to see a falling out between Inoki/McMahon soon.

03-04-2012, 09:54 PM	#45
Seth82 OLD SCHOOL FAN Posts: 13,946	Here's the March 4th 1985 Edition of Wrestling Observer Cover Steamboat press-slamming Flair with the headline “The End of an Era.” Pulling No Punches Dave comments on the 20/20 piece involving Eddy Mansfield and Jim Wilson. Also, John Stossell getting slapped around by David Schults. Mansfield demonstrated how wrestlers “fake it,” even blading himself. Dave doesn’t think it will negatively affect the business at all. Dave says Mansfield didn’t lose his job for going to the media, but because he often no-showed bookings. Apparently, Wilson claims he was kicked out of wrestling for refusing to do homosexual favors for a promoter. Dave says he wasn’t kicked out for this, but because he’s a horrible worker who refused to do jobs. Dave was contacted by Stossell a few days before the piece ran. He wasn’t impressed by Stossell because he only knew what Wilson, Mansfield and Hulk Hogan had told him. He didn’t do any other research. Dave thinks that if someone went up to 50 journalists and told each of them repeatedly that their profession was phony, one of the journalists would eventually smack you around like Schults did with Stossell. Dave says in many ways journalism is more fake than wrestling because reporters have to report on things they know nothing about (as a journalist myself, Dave has a good point here). Dave says the only part of the 20/20 piece that was sloppy instead of shallow was when McMahon was not challenged when he said he has never done anything to keep other promotions out of buildings. Overall, Dave was entertained by the report but not really informed. Mr. Mike’s Mondo Wrestling Mike is upset that the AWA doesn’t know how to use its talent pool. Brody is also gone and Mike didn’t think he was ever really used right. Slaughter’s reception at the 1/13 St. Paul show was so-so. The show drew a disappointing 11,000. John Nord debuted and Mike sees big things for him if he’s able to talk. Mike commends the marketing skills of McMahon for the Hogan-Piper MTV match. He says wrestling is close to being a genuine fad and it will be cool to like. Mike says Vince struggles to convince people in local markets that his product is good. However, he convinces the “important people,” the TV and advertising execs, that his product is good because it’s popular in New York. The 2/1 Pro Wrestling USA tapings were held in St. Paul. Mike said they were ok with the highlight being a Terry Funk appearance. Mike thought the 20/20 piece was good fun and will help the wrestling business grow as a fad. Mike is disturbed by the fan reaction to Garvin’s valet, Precious. People have taken it beyond fun and it’s now a little disturbing (Precious got attacked by a fan and needed 18 stitches a few weeks back). Newspaper Reprints There’s a story and obit piece about Eddie Graham’s suicide. There’s a puff-piece about McMahon from some trade magazine. There’s a piece from the Tulsa World about Mid-South and its use of wrestlers in country music videos. Inside Japan Wrestling Business is way up for All Japan, way down for New Japan. New Japan sold out wherever it went in ’83 and ’84 but can’t draw 3,000 per night in ’85. Several All Japan wresters have started wrestling a faster pace to keep up w/ Choshu’s style. Tsuruta and Choshu met several times in tag matches, but they didn’t go over real well. Tsuruta is feuding w/ Yatsu instead. All Japan TV show will move to prime time once baseball season ends. This will severely damage Inoki, but Inoki still holds a prime time slot on Friday night. Road Warriors and Ellering will be in from 3/8-3/14 and will get $10,000 apiece. Rumors that the AWA offered to send talent to New Japan for $120,000 per year. The company is paying WWF $500,000 in ’85 for talent. Rumors that Inoki is planning a bout between himself and Larry Holmes in either Tokyo or Los Angeles. Super Tiger now appearing w/out a mask in UWF. UWF’s president is out of jail on bail, but the company’s future still looks bleak. Letters from Readers One letter saying that Florida wrestling isn’t so bad. The usual WWF bashing. One anonymous writer talking about how WWF is finally getting things right and are selling out arenas throughout the country. WWF Dave says the WWF is riding the crest of a wave that is the biggest in wrestling in more than a decade. Crowds are way up, except in areas like Dallas or St. Paul The wave will lead to a closed-circuit MSG card headlined by Hogan-T/Piper-Orndorff. Dave praised the MTV special leading up to the Hogan/Piper MSG bout. He said it went off w/out a hitch and the celebrity tie-ins made it feel that you’re with the “in” crowd by watching wrestling. He says Piper proved that he is the most valuable commodity in wrestling right now and summarized the Hogan/Piper match and ensuing angle w/ Mr. T. Dave says Hogan has become an awful wrestler. He used to be just OK, now he’s terrible. He says Hogan comes across well to first-time viewers, but he’s not sure how many first-timers are watching WWF compared to actual wrestling fans. Dave says McMahon needs to capitalize on the Mr. T angle and try to turn all the non-wrestling fans that will be interested in the angle into wrestling fans. Dave doesn’t think Mr. T being involved in wrestling will negatively impact the business long term. Jimmy Hart and Jim Neidhart due in 2/12. King Kong Bundy coming in March. Rumors that Steamboat is also coming in March. Gone are Schults, Mulligan, Briscos, Adonis and Murdoch. Schults was fired for trying to jump Mr. T. He was fined $3,000 for beating up Stossell. Bret Hart, who Dave says was once good, is being wasted in the WWF. Highlights how the WWF is going into the home video business. Also highlights other WWF merchandise coming out, including Hulk Hogan dolls. Dave wonders if the dolls will have spots to insert needles. Latest WWF TV ratings are up slightly. Northeast Opposition 2/5 Philly show by Crocketts drew 3,770. Fan reports say it was good, but TV stations reported it the lowest attended card in a long time. Flair/Slaughter will headline 2/28. Crockett should be taking over most northern cities run by Ole soon. Northwest Billy Haynes returned 2/2. Southwest Buck Robley is now booking and Eric Embry has apparently bought the ownership of the company from Joe Blanchard. World Class Von Erichs were on Los Angeles TV to announce they would run live shows there in the future. Dave thinks Chris Adams is the best heel in the country right now. Mid-South Best matches on this circuit involve Dibiase/Duggan. Speculating that Kimala may be turned face. 2/15 in Houston drew 5,600. Watts ran Houston again six days later, one day before the WWF came in for a show. Mid-South’s TV show won its time slot in 15 of 23 slots around the circuit, including up against college football in some cases. Duggan has done some recent music videos with country singers. Dave says Mid-South is going all out w/ the videos, which he doesn’t mind if it doesn’t get in the way of wrestling. He thinks it eventually will, however. AWA Rumors that the AWA may soon give up on Martel as a champ that can draw. Dave isn’t sure who else to give the title to, however. Slaughter doesn’t need a belt, Bockwinkle is still good but fans perceive him as too old and Masked Superstar doesn’t really fit. Fans are getting worn out on Slaughter because he’s being pushed as the second coming. Drew 5,300 on 1/30 in San Fran, about triple what they had been drawing. Baron/Hennigs def. Roadies/Ellering when Baron pinned Ellering. Fans cheered the Roadies until they started to run away from the Baron’s claw. Fans started throwing plastic cups at the Roadies, which they caught, stuck down the crotch of their trunks, and threw back at the fans. They did the same thing in Puerto Rico, only w/ rocks. Main reason the Fabs left was because they were sick of the Roadies no-selling. Chicago and Salt Lake each drew 9,000. Memphis A snowstorm forced some shows to recently be cancelled. Rumors that Lawler will soon win NWA title from Flair. Florida Word is that the territory will be reorganized w/ Mike Graham giving control to Dusty. Percy Pringle in the area as a manager. Dave says the Freebirds are the only good thing going in this territory. Georgia Several new workers in from Abdulla the Butcher’s training school. T-Bolt Patterson’s suit against the NWA was recently settled out of court. T-Bolt got $50,000 from Barnett and Crockett will pay him $2,000 per week to wrestle. T-Bolt signed to no longer stand w/ Mansfield and Wilson in their lawsuits. Mid-Atlantic Magnum TA getting a big push. Speculation that Steamboat left because Dusty wanted to turn him heel. Update AWA on 2/20 in San Fran was awful and drew 1,981. NWA on 2/20 in Pittsburgh drew 750 and was also terrible. WWF sold out Indianapolis, but only drew about 800 in Oklahoma. Rumors that two groups may start running Calgary, one led by Cuban Assasin and one as a Stampede revival. Bad News Allan and Bruce Hart are battling over who will book the Stampede group. Brett, Davey Boy and Dynamite won’t work unless Bruce books. Lawler making arrangements to bring in Dynamite and Davey Boy. Steamboat definitely scheduled for 3/5 WWF taping in Poughkeepsie. Orndorff has dropped weight for his series w/ Hogan. They want to have Hogan do several power moves so it helps if Orndorff is lighter. Dave thinks it would be “interesting” if Piper and T “go against the grain” at Wrestlemania. *Expect to see a falling out between Inoki/McMahon soon.