Gertner

5/16/1988

WWF
-- Things are quiet from a news point of view, but crowds have been extremely impressive lately. Dave thinks because they're drawing so well right now, the schedule will have tons more dates added and managers will probably be back to work on house shows in no time.

-- The August PPV has been moved up to 8/28 and will take place at Madison Square Garden.

-- 4/29 in Utica, NY, drew 5,084 headlined by Andre vs Duggan. 4/30 at the Cow Palace drew 11,104 fans and $140,000, the second-largest gate in the history of the building headlined by Ted DiBiase vs Randy Savage. 5/7 in Boston drew 12,000 headlined by Honky Tonk Man vs Brutus Beefcake and Andre the Giant vs Hacksaw Duggan. On 5/1, Randy Savage vs Ted DiBiase drew a $168,000 gate.

-- Randy Savage is now being billed as the "undisputed WWF champion". The word heavyweight will no longer be used when talking about the title.

-- The WWF is working on several non-wrestling syndicated specials like the Slammys.

-- "The other day a few of us were joking about what would be the worst possible match of this generation -- and the best thing we came up with was the Anabolic Warrior against Andre. Then I find out a few weeks back they actually had that match in Switzerland on a European tour. What did the Swiss ever do to Vince McMahon?"

NWA
-- "The Midlife Rider has ridden off for the final time, after just a two week stay in the NWA, thus ending one of the quickest about-face angles in pro wrestling history. Four or five weeks of television, a baseball bat angle and the punching of Magnum T.A. were all flushed down the commode last weekend when the decision was made to pull the plug on the gimmick because it wasn't working. The official announcement on WTBS this past weekend was the (sic) Paul Boesch went to the NWA board and somehow convinced them to reinstate Dusty. With all the panic decision-making going on in the NWA, with angles changing so fast one TV show contradicts the next, things must be worse off than they appeared to be a few weeks ago. Of course, it is May, and the key contracts are due their balloon payment and let's just say I expect more of the same over the next few weeks."

-- Dave says the angle not working was a mild surprise to him, but that more than that, giving up that angle in just two weeks had to be hard on Dusty's ego. They have already set up a Barry Windham/Dusty Rhodes feud at a TV taping, but Dave doesn't understand, because the natural feud in TV buildup is Windham vs Luger. "It's hard to predict what's going to happen next with the NWA when those in charge don't seem to have any idea from one TV show to the next."

-- The next Clash of the Champions, billed as "Miami Mayhem", will take place on 6/8 at the Knight Center in Miami. Dave thinks based on the mood of the promotion and the disarray they're in, this show won't be as hot as the first one was. There's a belief they gave away too much at the first show and that's why they're hurting now, "... a view I both agree and disagree with. They did give a lot, but also failed to take advantage of a lot that they could have done. For instance, the barbed wire match was the blow-off of a feud, only they didn't know it. The heels got beat, quick and swift, and there was no point to any rematches with the two teams, but instead the two teams are still being booked with each other and the feud continues. The Flair-Sting rematches everywhere at least needed no time limit and no DQ stips to be meaningful, as just seeing another match between the two of them meant nothing when you've already seen everything they can do with each other for 45 minutes -- now the only lure is a definitive finish of the feud, but the inability to mix in new talent at the top makes them avoid blow-offs. My own opinion is the company had tremendous momentum coming off the first Clash, and retained it until they spent two hours on the Midlife Rider on TBS week after week and pushed everyone else back." Dave says they are afraid to put on a hot show, which becomes even more apparent when looking at the lineup for the next Clash. Dave has no idea why they're doing a show without Ric Flair, Lex Luger, or the Road Warriors.

-- Ted Turner is working on a new station called TNT with lots of MGM movies and sporting events. Dave expects to see wrestling there eventually. (My note: He was right.) They are waiting on the network to clear 30 million homes. He is actually trying some type of package deal with the Great American Bash PPV as a lure to get cable companies to sign up for TNT. Turner and Crockett are under fire with cable companies right now for running the Clash. The feeling is that they ruined Wrestlemania and cost the cable companies big money.

-- The NWA realizes the Great American Bash pay-per-view is pretty much do or die, considering the state they're in.

-- On TV, there was zero reaction to Jim Ross announcing Dusty's reinstatement. One woman in the audience finally cheered and was eventually drowned out by boos.

-- The gate for night two of the Crockett Cup was $115,000 and 6,200 paid. The combined gate for both nights was about the same as souvenir sales for Wrestlemania at Trump Plaza.

-- 5/5 in Johnstown, PA drew 680 fans headlined by Sting vs Larry Zbyszko. The same night in Raleigh, they drew 1,900 for a TV taping even doing Flair/Tully/Windham vs Luger/Dusty/Nikita as a main event. Windham bloodied up Dusty with his new clawhold in that match to set up their feud. 5/6 in Pittsburgh drew 3,800 fans headlined by Flair vs Doc in a disappointing match. Fans turned on Doc and sided with Flair, despite Flair's best efforts. 5/7 in Baltimore drew 5,500 fans headlined by Flair vs Sting with Barry Windham running interference. 5/8 in Roanoke drew 3,000 fans headlined by Flair vs Sting in a *** cage match. 4/24 in Charleston, WV drew 2,500 fans headlined by Luger & Sting vs Arn & Tully in a cage match. 4/30 in Laurinburg, NC drew 620 fans.

-- When the new Coliseum opens in Charlotte in August or September, the WWF will get the first two shows, forcing JCP to run all of their shows at the Charlotte Park Center, which has a maximum 2,500 seat capacity. The WWF has been trying to get into Charlotte and hasn't been able to for the same reasons JCP can't get into Madison Square Garden. But the owner of the new Charlotte Coliseum does not have the same ties to Crockett as the previous owners, and they're willing to give the WWF a chance.

-- Cable TV ratings for the first quarter of 1988 have the Saturday night show at a 3.5 rating, making it the fourth highest rated show on cable. It's higher than both Prime Time Wrestling (#9) and All American Wrestling (#12). NWA Main Event was in the #18 spot.

-- "Did you all catch that party that the Midnight Express threw on WTBS? What an original idea. At least that's what I thought the first 100 times i've seen cakes on a wrestling TV show and every single time it went into either a heel's face or the TV announcer's face. Even though it was the most predictable thing I've ever seen, it was still entertaining, especially the banter between Lane and Cornette about where are the girls and carbonated beverages being fuel for athletes in training."

-- Rumors are starting to fly that Crockett is trying to make a deal with Ted Turner, but as best as Dave can tell, no actual deal has been reached.

WCCW
-- 5/1 in San Antonio drew 700 fans and $4,200.

-- The 5/8 Texas Stadium show drew 7,000 fans headlined by Kerry Von Erich regaining the title from Iceman Parsons. Other standouts were a Michael Hayes/Terry Gordy match where they repeated the finish from the old Alabama days where Gordy came to Hayes' rescue after the match, turning him babyface, and Terry Taylor vs Chris Adams in a match Dave gave ****

-- Ken Mantell has reached out to every single territory except the NWA and WWF, offering to do tie-in promotions and provide talent for their cards. Mantell is looking for ways to get dates for the wrestlers since they are not running a full schedule, but Dave says they only have one or two names that would matter anywhere else. Dave says Gordy, Hayes, Taylor, and Adams got involved with a local hero, that might work, but just taking Taylor vs Adams as a feud around the horn isn't going to do anything except offer a decent match. "Talent sharing can only help these other groups if the talent can shoot an angle on TV and work a series of shows, rather than just fly in for one date, unless it's something like Hayes in Atlanta or Gordy maybe on an independent card against a guy like Brody or Abdullah the Butcher."

MEMPHIS
-- The 5/2 card in Memphis drew a $15,000, more than double what they did the week before, headlined by Jerry Lawler vs Eddie Gilbert with Missy Hyatt's hair at stake. The finish saw Paul E. Dangerously show up and get decked by Lawler. Before that, Missy tried distracting Lawler but it didn't work. After all this, Kenny Dee, who was managing Lawler to keep Missy from interfering, ended up turning on Lawler by throwing powder in his eyes, leading to a Gilbert win. After the match, Dangerously hands Missy money, who uses it to pay Kenny Dee, who will be the new heel manager. There was said to be very little reaction to the World Class guys, and fans left after Lawler/Gilbert while Kerry/Iceman was still going on in the ring. Dave still doesn't understand the logic behind putting Iceman on and billing him as world champ the week before the Hennig match.

-- The 5/9 show will have tickets raised to $25, $10, $7, and $5 for the Hennig vs Lawler title match with Jackie Fargo as referee, Bill Dundee vs Eddie Gilbert, Jeff Jarrett vs Robert Fuller, Mike Graham & Steve Keirn vs Max Pain & Gary Young, the Cuban Choir Boys vs Ron & Don Harris, Bad Company vs Tom Brandi & Billy Travis, Doug & Tommy Gilbert vs Mark Starr & Scott Steiner, and Brickhouse Brown vs Kenny Wayne.

-- 5/9 has been declared Jerry Lawler Day in Memphis by mayor Dick Hackett.

-- "On TV if you recall they were telling fans to vote with a 900 number ($1 per phone call) on who will referee, either Fargo or Larry Hennig. All along Lawler kept saying on TV that Hennig was leading the voting and they kept saying how all the fans in Minnesota were voting for Hennig as referee and they needed the fans in Memphis to vote. When the show started at 11 a.m. (remember the show is still done live in Memphis) they went to the voting headquarters and said the voting would close at noon and that Hennig was still in the lead, but it was close, to get fans to keep calling the 900 number (so they could get money from the phone company, I guess to pay Curt enough to keep him happy). At 11:45 they did another segment with the same story. Then at noon Lawler shows up and tells the fans he has some bad news, acting real somber, and then said, 'Bad news for Curt Hennig that is,' and the place popped and they announced Fargo would referee. Anyway, this 900 number thing is a real novel way to make money."

-- Brother Ernest Angel is still around and the Harris Brothers said he was in the hospital with a dreaded disease.

-- Late news that Jerry Lawler won the AWA title before 9,500 fans on 5/9. The match was 21:12, described as "not great", and the crowd reaction was amazing.

OREGON
-- Roddy Piper showed up at Don Owen's card in Portland on 04/30 and helped nearly sellout the Sports Arena. His appearance was to help Owen in his local promotional war with Billy Jack Haynes, debuting on 5/7 in Oregon City. Haynes' TV starts on 5/14 and they plan to televise matches that are taped the previous Saturday. Haynes insists the week delay has nothing to do with Piper appearing for Owen, and says it's because of late arrival of his ring lights. Piper was announced in advance, but his role was made unclear. He showed up and did an interview but never made it to the ring. Mike Golden came up to him and told him to scram. Piper was very passive in a subtle booking attempt to put over Golden. Gordon brought out a contract for the 5/7 show. Piper refused to do a match, saying he's lost too much weight and is no longer a fighter. Golden responded by spitting on him, and continued taunting him until they got into it. When it was over, Piper wasn't seen the rest of the night. No official announcement of a Piper/Golden match has been made, but that seems to be what the fans are expecting.

CENTRAL STATES
-- 4/28 in Kansas City drew 375 fans, much more than average. 4/29 in St. Joseph drew 349, the lowest crowd ever in that city.

-- Eddie Gilbert and Missy Hyatt cancelled their scheduled appearances on the KC show, and Todd Morton no-showed. "Rufus Jones missed both dates although I haven't heard that anybody missed him."

-- "The funniest thing I've seen in a while was the Kansas City program for the 4/28 show. It talked about The Freebirds coming and said they are managed by Michael Hayes and had quotes from manager Hayes. They also had a picture of Hayes in the program, which was taken from their original Georgia Days as heels (1980). Geigel does his own programs, and it's nice to see how up to date he is on the current wrestling scene, especially with the group he's supposed to be working so closely with."

WINDY CITY WRESTLING
-- "This group made a remarkable showing on 4/30 for the return of pro wrestling to the International Ampitheater in Chicago, drawing a $40,000 house, which is by far, the largest house I've heard of for an independent promotion." Paid attendance was 4,000+.

-- They are scheduled to have a 30 minute show on Channel 60 in Chicago before long.

-- The WWF took notice of the big gate and plans to run shows in the Ampitheater, feeling they can get a different crowd here than they do at the Horizon, and they can continue to run both shows.

STAMPEDE
-- Owen Hart's year-plus reign as North American champion ended on 5/6 when he dropped the title to Makhan Singh.

-- Owen's last match before New Japan's next tour is on 5/14, which may be his last match in Stampede. "There is no word new on that situation. Hart agreed to go to Titan as a masked wrestler (either a Tiger Mask gimmick or a Mighty Mouse gimmick) but is having second thoughts. Apparently there is a personal goal of having the greatest match of the year with Ric Flair, still, although politics still seem to make this impossible."

-- Jerry Lawler wants to come in and wrestle Owen Hart, but there is the political issue of Stu's connections to the WWF.

-- Both Bret Hart and Davey Boy Smith are pushing really hard for Owen to come into the WWF.

-- Steve Blackman, a WWF jobber, is headed in to team with Brick Bronsky.

-- Chris Benoit will be gone for the July New Japan tour.

-- Suni War Cloud is out of action with an injury.

-- Jonathan Holiday's playboy gimmick has been completely dropped, and his push has been stopped. He used to work as a TBS jobber named Dexter Wescott.

-- Expect Makhan Singh vs Steve DiSalvo to be the feud on top while Owen Hart and Jason are in New Japan.

ALL JAPAN
-- Mitsuharu Misawa will be getting married in a major ceremony over summer.

NEW JAPAN
-- 4/27 in Osaka drew 5,000 fans headlined by Vader vs Fujinami. 4/26 in Shimonoseki drew 2,490. 4/23 in Okinawa drew 1,780. 4/24 in Kumamoto drew 1,660.

-- Since Inoki is out with a broken foot, Fujinami is making a play for the top spot, but Dave thinks that may just be angle. He isn't certain. Inoki is going to miss the IWGP tournament.

-- Manny Fernandez is looking good in New Japan.

JOSHI
-- 4/24 in Tokyo saw JWP draw 1,800 fans headlined by Harley Saito & Miss A vs Witch Warrior & Eagle Sawai.

-- "5/15 in Tokyo has a triple headliner show with the Crush Girls wrestling the Jumping Bomb Angels on top, then Mika Suzuki wrestles Kaoru Maeda for the jr. championship (this refers to an age group, not a weight) and Erika Shishido & Nobuko Kimura defend the Japanese tag team title against Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada, the latter of whom are the two leading grass of the class of '87 rookies from this promotion and are getting their first shot at stardom. Shishido, 17 years old, who began in late 1986 is half black and half Japanese and is highly thought of as a future major heel and tag team partner of Bull Nakano. In fact, she also appeared in the movie 'Tokyo Pop' in a brief scene."

OTHER
-- Former NFL star Steve Courson is set to make his pro wrestling debut on a Dominic Denucci-promoted indy show in Pennsylvania over the weekend. He has had almost no training and is being rushed into the ring with the hopes they can draw off of his football name. Courson was an admitted heavy steroid user in the NFL, and his career was cut short due to health problems. He was cut about two seasons ago (at the time of this writing) from the Tampa Bay Bucs. He's also coming out with an anti-steroids book.

-- In a strange occurrence, every single pro wrestling show in syndication has dropped out of the top 15. "The actual story here is that the idea of adding cumulative network rating, as McMahon's WWF network (a combination of five shows), Crockett's Wrestling Network (four shows) and the All-Star Wrestling Network (at least half a dozen shows) has apparently been done away with by those who figured out the ratings. As has been mentioned here many times, it was unfair in favor of the wrestling shows for the companies to add up ratings of three and four shows together, and claim to be one of the top three or four syndicated shows on television, and ahead of something like Oprah Winfrey for example, which runs one show and gets a nine rating as opposed to Titan, which runs five shows, which added up together, get maybe a 10 rating. In reality, even Titan's Superstars show, which is certainly the most watched wrestling show in syndicated, doesn't come close to the top 15 in syndicated programming by itself." Dave doesn't think the story is a big deal, but says it will be harder to track TV ratings from week to week. Dave's sources in the TV industry think this is a major blow to pro wrestling, and one that will hurt Crockett far more than Vince, as Vince sold almost all of his complete inventory of ads for 1988. Wrestling will no longer seem quite as hot to advertisers as it would have a few weeks back, when two of the top eight shows were wrestling. Replacing wrestling has been shows like Love Connection, Star Search, and Hollywood Squares. "Even though a wrestling network package can still offer the same number of viewers to an advertiser, the fact is, the advertisers look at those ratings to determine what is hot, and wrestling no longer appears. And those big trade ads that Titan and Crockett buy in the trade pubs can no longer, as part of the ads, list either one as one of the highest rated networks in syndication. Basically what has happened is that the statistical con loophole that wrestling companies have been using has now been closed. It's back to when the wrestling promotions are going to have to chase down advertisers, rather than vice versa, and the difference in who is doing the chasing makes all the difference in the world in business."

-- A new promotion with women's wrestling is supposed to begin taping at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. Wendy Richter and Misty Blue are supposed to be there, Gordon Solie is planned to announce, and they supposedly have a lot of TV already lined up.

-- Continental is expected to be on FNN soon. The deal with New Japan has stalled because they couldn't come to a financial agreement. FNN also wants a national call-in pro wrestling talk show on their network. They are also being sued by the WWF for doing a "Hulkamania" package.

-- Larry Sharpe has sued Bam Bam Bigelow for breach of contract.

-- Steve DiSalvo was on a flight recently with a guy threatening to kill everyone on the plane. The flight attendant asked for his help, and he tackled the guy to the ground in a front facelock, and detained him until they reached their destination.

-- WCW announcer Scott Hudson actually wrote to Dave on the letters page to bash Dusty Rhodes.