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Old 10-14-2012, 01:12 AM   #121
Seth82
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the 10-12-88 edition of The Wrestling Observer

WWF
-- NBC will televise three prime time wrestling specials during the season instead of just one, as had been previously reported. NBC has also agreed to broadcast the Slammys in prime time. Forbes had a story on this over the past week which seemed to be a mix of fact and fiction (I'll say), as they also reported $80 million in ticket sales in the past 12 months when $40-$50 million is closer to reality. The WWF's cash flow is about $19 million, and the company would be worth about $100 million on the open market. Ad rates are about half of what a normal sitcom or game show with those ratings would sell for, which shows that advertisers just don't consider wrestling a good television buy, even though McMahon has changed the audience. Some sponsors will always be interested because of the sheer number of viewers, but they will spend more money per viewer on almost anything else.

-- The British Bulldogs are headlining the upcoming European tour. Randy Savage will work a few dates as well.

-- Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard start at the TV tapings in Toledo.

-- The Survivor Series PPV will only have four matches.

-- 9/29 at MSG drew 13,500 headlined by Honky Tonk Man vs Ultimate Warrior and Randy Savage vs Andre the Giant. 9/30 in Denver drew 6,500 and $75,000 headlined by the same matches. 9/29 in Miami drew 7,500 headlined by Hogan vs Boss Man. 9/18 in Toronto drew 8,000 headlined by Roberts vs Rude.

-- Summerslam drew a $355,345 gate at MSG and an additional $63,376 at the Felt Forum. The combined gate is the third largest ever in the New York area. The record remains $541,730 for Bruno vs Zbyszko at Shea Stadium. Second place is Wrestlemania I at $502,000, which just barely nudges Flair vs Kerry Von Erich at Texas Stadium for the overall #5 spot of top live gates in US wrestling history. Wrestlemania III still has the record, drawing a $1,599,000 gate at the Silverdome.

-- "There was some legit backstage heat between the Bulldogs and Rougeaus stemming from an incident where Jacques Rougeau shaved the head of one of the Bulldogs' friends (a ring attendant in one of the cities who suffers from downs syndrome), which, ironically, is one of the Bulldogs' favorite hobbies (ask Outhouse Jack and Joey Marella) and it evolved into a fistfight with Dynamite either cleaning Raymond's clock, or both at once, depending on the version of the story you believe."

-- The C & D show crew will be cut back because the shows aren't drawing, and the A & B gates are down right now also. "Titan doesn't have any match which can pop a crowd at present (they are still in far better shape than the NWA which doesn't have any match which can pop a big crowd either since Flair-Luger is starting to fizzle down). Really, they desperately need to get a heel on fire and it looks like Curt Hennig will be the beneficiary, but I don't think they are even thinking about Hennig vs. Hogan, and it'll be six months before Hennig meets Savage so I think we're in for a slow period. Hogan has not drawn anything near what was expected of him since his return (part of it can be blamed on his opponents -- DiBiase was destroyed at Summer Scam far more than they realized; Brown and Haku are not main eventers and Bubba Bossman is too much like One Man Gang plus no angle has been done to get heat on their series; however in years past, Hogan always drew with foes good or bad."

-- Live gates are a bigger portion of income than Dave had been led to believe. Wrestlers had always told Dave the live gates were gravy, and merchandising was where the money was, but according to the Forbes article, the WWF only receives about 3% of the $150 million annual gross in WWF-licensed products, or about $4.5 million annually. "Figure $40 million in live gates, $12 million more in souvenir sales at live gates, $7 million as their cut of two major PPV shows, plus live gates of those shows, $5.5 million on PPV for Wrestlemania (Titan's cut of an estimated $13 million), $1.5 million on the live house, $3 million on closed circuit and $1.5 million on videos/souvenirs of WM plus all sorts of other sources like TV ad revenue, magazine, etc. It's still a very healthy business, since it has about 166 front office employees and maybe 80 wrestlers (front office employees average $27,000 per annum.)"

-- Hogan's debut in Tallahassee against Ted DiBiase only drew 3,200 fans, but they were expecting to draw 12,000 fans.

NWA
-- Rumors of Lex Luger and Ric Flair both leaving are false. Luger was still in the NWA as recently as the last house show and he has made threats and wants some type of show of good faith from the new organization, but he's still around. The rumors that Flair is already on WWF booking sheets are also false.

-- The NWA was NOT sold to TBS the previous Friday, which is what everyone said would be THE date. Dave heard the deal was that Turner would only purchase 65% of the company, with an option to buy the remaining 35%, but has yet to confirm this. The wrestlers did all receive documents to sign at the last TV taping to transfer responsibility for their contracts from JCP to TBS. TBS has stated no contracts will be renegotiated until May 1, and after the purchase, only very small changes will be made through the end of the year. However, they will be making drastic changes in the first four months of 1989.

-- Turner wants to sign key WWF wrestlers before the end of the year. They are looking at Bam Bam Bigelow, Ricky Steamboat, One Man Gang and Greg Valentine. Bigelow and Steamboat have already left, and Dave thinks OMG and Valentine would be of little value. Dave is told Bigelow's TV taping debut "was something between a bomb and a major disappointment." There is significant interest in Ricky Steamboat, and they really want Flair vs Steamboat to headline Starrcade. This is far from being finalized, as Steamboat doesn't really have much desire to return to wrestling. OMG is out since he's about to get a big push as Akeem, and Dave thinks it would be a major mistake to offer Valentine a key spot. "My own feeling is there are several guys out there who can be signed for a lot less money that would be more effective in the spot, and if they wanted to get someone from Titan, they should at least try and get someone like Bret Hart or Jake Roberts who has some charisma and isn't burned out like Valentine is and could be effective as a drawing card." They are also trying to get Eddie Gilbert back in, but Dave isn't sure if they're interested in Paul E. Dangerously, although he says it would be a mistake not to be interested.

-- Dave saw the NWA show in Chicago on 10/2. The crowd was between 5,000 and 5,500 fans and about a $65,000 gate. Rundown:

Ron Simmons vs Rip Morgan: Better than you'd expect. *1/2
Mike Rotunda vs Italian Stallion **1/4
Midnight Express vs Dick Murdoch & Dusty Rhodes in a 30-minute draw: Best match on the card, and Dave has no idea how they pulled it off. Eaton took some insane Terry Funk-style bumps. "Dusty hit a gusher on this one, to the point of it being genuinely disgusting (the cut, not Dusty in general). They kept pounding on the cut which made things even worse. It was an all action brawl from this point on and both very good and very heated with Murdoch not going (sic) any clowning." ***1/2
Fantastics vs Sheepherders: Their typical good brawl. ***1/4
Ivan & Nikita Koloff vs Russian Assassins: **1/4
Sting vs Barry Windham: Great heat during entrances, okay during the match. Good match, but too many low blows. ***1/4
Ric Flair vs Lex Luger: They are back to doing Dusty finishes in all their main events, which is killing the momentum this feud had going at the gate. ***1/4

WCCW
-- Rumors that Jerry Jarrett has bought 30 percent of WCCW are wrong. He has been in and out of Dallas and has been negotiating. Ken Mantell currently owns 30 percent and would probably be willing to sell his share. Dave thinks Jerry Jarrett is too smart to buy into the group unless he has 51 percent and full decision-making power, and most feel he is trying to do just that now.

-- WCCW is being replaced by the AWA on ESPN.

-- They have gotten out of the problems they were facing from the city of Dallas over the condition of the Sportatorium. The city will overlook the fire hazard problems as long as World Class agrees not to prepare any food on the premises. They can only sell pre-packaged food. Previously, Dallas gave WCCW until the end of the month to spend $40,000 fixing the building or they would quarantine it.

CONTINENTAL
-- Dave attended the Road to Birmingham show. His thoughts on the show? Since you asked:

Opening battle royal: *1/4
Bob Armstrong vs Tony Anthony: A 41 second match which Dave says had a really hot pace. 1/4*
Tom Pritchard vs Kokina: DUD
Dutch Mantell vs Mr. Wrestling II: 10-minute draw which lasted 8:22. II got no reaction. Dutch was the heel, but got mostly cheers. "II had one fan, noticeable because it really was only one." *
Terry Gordy vs Austin Idol: Best match of the tournament. **1/2
Jerry Stubbs vs Tim Horner: DUD
Tony Anthony vs Dutch Mantell; **1/4
Austin Idol vs Terry Gordy: -1/2*
Tom Pritchard vs Jerry Stubbs: **
Ken Wayne vs Danny Davis Hair vs Hair: **3/4

-- Brad Armstrong is starting for CWF soon. Bob Armstrong is now booking.

-- FNN is still airing the show.

NEW JAPAN
-- 9/18 in Mitsugi drew a sellout 1,340 fans. 9/19 in Toyooka drew a sellout 2,300 fans. 9/20 in Oyabe drew a sellout 2,880 mainly to see Hiroshi Hase return from his knee injury in his hometown. 9/21 in Inuyama drew a sellout 1,760 fans.

-- "I got to see the 5 vs. 5 match from 9/12 in Fukuoka and it was a solid four-stars but no match of the year. Yamada and fantastic, but he was the second guy out. Also got to see the Chigusa vs. Asuka match which was four stars plus, but I don't think they'll be having the kind of matches they used to because with the UWF popularity in Japan, submission holds are more in vogue than spectacular flying stuff. This was worked great with the most legitimate looking worked shoulder separation act I've ever seen. They did set a new world record for most streamers ever thrown before a match."

UWF
-- The latest show on 9/24 in Fukuoka drew a sellout 4,000 fans headlined by Akira Maeda vs Kazuo Yamazaki.

MISCELLANEOUS
-- "By the way, the latest issue of UWF magazine had a list of the 'toughest shooters' in the U.S. and listed the British Bulldogs, Steve Williams, Brad Rheingans, Bob Backlund, Rick Steiner, Buzz Sawyer, Mike Rotunda, Badnews Brown, Iron Sheik, David Schultz, and the Malenko brothers in no particular order for those of you who have fascination with that aspect of wrestling."

-- "I realize that many long-time fans like the look of a TV studio show. It evokes memories of the good old days when all the shows were shot in studios. But nostalgia isn't what it used to be. Today, all wrestling shows must be compared with Titan's TV product and the comparison, when limited to production values, is very much unfavorable. Despite the fact the in-ring product of the NWA is far superior, the casual fan usually can't identify these differences. What they do see on Titan are 10000 fans in a brightly lit arena having the time of their lives. it is loud, though sometimes canned, the fans response to the faces and heels are all properly orchestrated to avoid embarrassment to the promotion and has a major league look." -- Chris Zavisa on the letters page

-- "I'm sitting here watching NWA Worldwide Wrestling and they've played that 'Catch the Pinfalls' video four times. Wouldn't 'Catch the screwjobs' be more appropriate?" -- John McAdam on the letters page
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Old 05-05-2013, 08:41 AM   #122
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Here's the October 3rd 1988 edition of Dave Meltzer's Wrestling Observer

WWF
-- For the week ending 8/28, WWF's syndicated network drew a 9.6 rating in 258 markets covering 97% of the country.

-- Tully Blanchard and Arn Anderson debut at the next TV tapings as The Brainbusters and will be managed by Bobby Heenan. They will face the Rockers and British Bulldogs in their arena debuts toward the end of October. They are mostly working arenas where the NWA is strongest. They are expected to get a big push, only because the WWF wants Ric Flair, and burying them would make it harder to get Flair.

-- One Man Gang is now known as "Akeem" and will be a white wrestler pretending to be black. Dave says this is not the first time this has been done, as Kevin Sullivan pretended to be Kareem Muhammad's cousin last year in Florida.

-- Harley Race is booked against DJ Peterson on some spot shows in California.

-- 9/24 at the Spectrum drew 3,952, their lowest crowd of all time, headlined by a Savage/DiBiase cage match. 9/23 in Cape Girardeau, MO drew 1,200 fans headlined by Duggan vs DiBiase. 9/12 in Peoria, IL drew 2,411 headlined by Duggan (subbing for Jake) vs Rude. 9/19 at the Cow Palace drew 6,000 headlined by Savage vs Andre. 9/17 in Los Angeles drew 12,500 headlined by Savage vs Andre. 9/18 in San Diego drew 5,000 headlined by Savage vs Andre. 9/2 in Canton, OH drew 500 headlined by Rockers vs Conquistadores. 9/3 in Kitanning, PA drew 369 fans and a $2,1000 gate headlined by Rockers vs Conquistadores. 9/18 in White Plains, NY drew 500 fans headlined by Rockers vs Conquistadores. 9/17 at the Capital Centre drew 7,500 fans headlined by Hogan vs DiBiase. 9/19 in Entfield, CT drew 350 fans headlined by Rockers vs Conquistadores. 9/19 in New Haven, CT drew 6,200 fans headlined by Hogan vs Big Boss Man.

-- "Hennig's Mr. Perfect character will be introduced on TV with clips of him being perfect at all sports (ie bowling and doing all strikes, horseshoes with all ringers, baseball with all home runs)."

-- Roddy Piper's movie "They Live" was originally planned to debut on 10/29, but has been pushed back to 11/4 to avoid competing with any new Halloween-themed movies.

-- Ted DiBiase was on Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, which Dave was told was hilarious. DiBiase gave his dog champagne and caviar and wouldn't let Robin Leach have any.

NWA
-- Negotiations between Jim Crockett and Fritz Von Erich broke off. Crockett wanted a deal where he would take over the WCCW TV network, take over the promotion, and keep the Von Erichs and a couple of others. Fritz was looking for a simple talent exchange, likely so he could do more Flair vs Kerry Von Erich matches in Dallas.

-- Crockett is still attempting to settle his outstanding debts before selling. "He's trying to settle at 40 cents on the dollar according to two different creditors. His largest creditor is Bill Watts, from the purchase of the old Universal Wrestling Federation last spring. Apparently Crockett's offer to settle the outstanding debt (rumored to be in the $3 million range) for less than $1 million didn't go over so well with Watts, who is not only trying to up the price, but also drop the 'no-compete' clause in his sale contract." TBS sources tell Dave they expect the sale to be finalized by the end of the week, but Dave doesn't think they can clear the debt in time.

-- Expect minor changes in TV format and some major roster additions by the end of the year, with major, fullscale changes coming in early 1989.

-- Bam Bam Bigelow will debut on the 9/27 TV tapings as a babyface and be managed by Oliver Humperdink. While it didn't work in Titan and Dave says it does seem like a more natural heel act, Bigelow is coming in as a babyface because the Road Warriors are about to turn heel. Dave doesn't understand why they're bringing him in now instead of waiting, since he'll have a Japan tour a week later and will be gone for a month. The idea is that Humperdink can do promos while he's gone to keep his momentum going.

-- 9/18 in Roanoke drew 3,200 headlined by Flair vs Luger with another two-referee finish with a Tommy Young/Teddy Long argument, which fans have stopped popping for because they've figured out what is about to happen. 9/3 in Baltimore drew 11,000 and a $125,000 gate headlined by Flair vs Luger. 9/25 at the Omni drew 6,700 fans headlined by Flair vs Luger.

-- There will be a U.S. tag team title tournament held on TV. This will be a weekly thing for November sweeps.

-- Clash II was the highest rated show on cable during its week.

-- Brad Armstrong has missed several shows, although it has yet to be confirmed that he's headed to Continental.

-- For the week ending 8/28, the NWA's network drew a 6.1 in 159 markets covering 91% of the country.

-- Jobber Agent Steele is Brad Anderson, son of Gene Anderson.

SUPERCLASH III
-- The show will be headlined by a "must be a winner" title unification match between Jerry Lawler and Kerry Von Erich. There will also be a "Beverly Hills
lingerie match" between POWW girls, where the object is to tear off clothing. " ... that's fine for the Playboy channel but I'm not sure it's appropriate for the general audience, then again, I suppose there isn't much general audience interest in this show either ..." Other matches include Sgt. Slaughter vs Col. DeBeers, Ron Garvin vs Greg Gagne, and Wahoo McDaniel vs Manny Fernandez in a strap match.

-- The hope is that the show can be cleared in three million homes, which Dave says will have hurdles because the NWA has a show on 12/26 and the WWF has one on Thanksgiving.

-- Dave expects Continental to try to join the show since Eddie Gilbert is no longer booking, as David Woods and Gilbert disagreed on whether or not to participate in this show.

-- The plan is for this group to run a second show in February between the Royal Rumble and Wrestlemania. Dave sees oversaturation coming between the WWF PPVs, NWA's hopes to expand PPVs in 1989, and this group running more PPVs, which could result in "as many as 10 or 11 PPV shows next year."

WCCW
-- "We had one of those 'only in Texas' title changes this past Friday night at the Dallas Sportatorium. The Jerry Lawler-Kerry Von Erich title match ended with a double disqualification, and they emphasized before the match that it was to be held under World Class rules and it was announced in Dallas that because a title can change via DQ in World Class, that both wrestlers' lost their titles and both belts would be vacant pending a Texas Death Match (Falls don't count, No DQ, no time limit, no stopping for blood, match continues until one man can't answer the bell, you can use anything you want to bring into the ring except a gun or knife) at the Cotton Bowl on 10/15. However, the next morning at the TV studio in Memphis, Lawler appeared with the AWA title safely around his waist and promoting a title defense against Ron Garvin on 9/30." The show drew 3,500 fans on 9/24 at the Sportatorium, with Lawler apparently carrying Kerry to a ***+ match and working as a total heel.

-- John Tatum is gone.

-- Kevin Von Erich is tentatively scheduled to return for the Cotton Bowl show, but it isn't definite. He is having lots of problems from his concussions and the resulting headaches. A doctor told Kevin he should stop wrestling. His brain is jarred, and he is susceptible to more concussions. They are saying Kamala gave Kevin the concussion in a match in Cleveland, which is useless since Kamala is gone. "From all reports, if Kevin suffered a concussion in Cleveland, it wasn't in the ring."

-- Kerry Von Erich is officially in charge of the company, but Frank Dusek and Skandor Akbar handle the office work and Percy Pringle does publicity.

-- There is a Miss World Class beauty pageant coming up.

-- The plan is to start giving away Ft. Worth tickets, since the shows are sponsored anyway, to build up excitement for television. The matches have been good, but they are only drawing 200 fans in an 8,000 seat arena, so they seem dead from lack of heat. They are also going to give out freebies to kids and non-profit groups so there is crowd enthusiasm that carries over to TV.

-- Michael Hayes is in Nigeria.

-- They lost TV in San Antonio, which has been their most consistent drawing city.

MEMPHIS
-- The combined tapings in Louisville and Memphis drew disappointing numbers: between 2,000 and 3,500 for Louisville, and only about 5,000 in Memphis, despite all the big names on the card.

-- Dave is comparing the Frank Dusek/Eddie Marlin shoving match and Hayes/Cox vs Jarrett/Dundee confrontation to New Japan vs IWE, which drew huge in 1981-1982 with Inoki vs Rusher Kimura.

-- Hector Guerrero is now working as a full-time gymnastic instructor for kids in Maryville, Tennessee.

-- Cactus Jack is now carrying a whip. They did an angle where Brown said that since Fuller still owned his contract he didn't have any money. He brought out his aunt who said she has been having to support him and started crying, which was great. Sylvia then came out - also crying - and said they've give him back the contract until the Stud Stable jumped Brown and choked him with the whip. The other heels held the dressing room door shut so nobody could make the save for a few minutes.

-- "Todd Morton, the Ricky Morton look-alike and wrestle-alike debuted this past Saturday and he looks like a top candidate for rookie of the year."

CONTINENTAL
-- There has been a "bitter falling out" in Continental, which has led to the departure of booker Eddie Gilbert, along with several other wrestlers. There were business disagreements that escalated out of control, and there was a "full-scale explosion" on Thursday. Dave expects this to put Continental back in the category of minor independent promotion. There were differences between Gilbert and David Woods. Woods felt Continental couldn't afford to expand to new areas and bring in name talent, which Gilbert was trying to do. They also felt they weren't ready for the Road to Birmingham on 10/3. The promotion started second guessing booking decisions and felt that Eddie Gilbert and Paul E. Dangerously focused too much on themselves. In addition, localized promos were getting mixed up or failed to arrive at the city in time for airing because they weren't being mailed for overnight delivery. They were just being sent first class mail. The final straw was when paychecks were given on Tuesday when paychecks were issued. Gilbert has been in charge of payroll, and Woods scaled back the payoffs Gilbert has issued, especially of those who are Gilbert's closest friends. Woods was also against Gilbert returning as a babyface, and was questioning the severity of his injuries. "Really, just about everything that there could be a dispute about, there was. There had been disenchantment because the crowds had been down the past two weeks, although that isn't unusual for this time of the year. Even Gilbert's detractors within the promotion admitted he was both a creative wrestler and great booker, but were leery of his attempts to expand too fast and certain personality conflicts had gotten out of control."

-- Because of this, the status of Road to Birmingham is up on the air. Gilbert, Bam Bam Bigelow, Bob Orton, and Chris Adams are definitely not coming in now (in Bigelow's case because he signed with the NWA, not because he's in the middle of this). Terry Gordy may still be on, but Continental may not be willing to fly in outside talent anymore. Nightmare Freddy, D.I. Bob Carter, The Samoans and Shane Douglas are all gone. Austin Idol and a few others are question marks.

-- The new booker will be Bob Armstrong, with the full crew cut to 14 wrestlers: Armstrong, Tracey Smothers, Steve Armstrong, Scott Armstrong, Willie B. Hurt, Lord Humongous, Danny Davis, Jerry Stubbs, Ken Wayne, Mongolian Stomper, Tony Anthony, Alan Martin, and two more heels. Dave expects Humongous to get a major push, as Gilbert not featuring him as the #1 wrestler in the promotion was another source of dispute.

-- Missy Hyatt will not be working TV anymore, and neither will Joe Pedicino. Brad Armstrong will probably come back in, and Dave expects Continental to be dropped by FNN as a result of all of this.

-- 9/23 in Knoxville drew 2,500 and a $20,000 gate.

-- Tom Pritchard was going to win the tournament, but probably won't now.

-- Eddie Gilbert had been wrestling in the earlier part of the week, and is currently working weekend shows in Puerto Rico.

STAMPEDE
-- 9/10 in Edmonton drew 700 fans. 9/17 drew 800 fans.

-- Dave is told the Chris Benoit & Lance Idol vs Cuban Commandos (Cuban Assassin & Jerry Morrow) matches are regularly around ****, including one that recently aired in full on television.

-- Makhan Singh was suspended for his attack on Ed Whalen so he would be free to tour South Africa. The Great Gama is also there, and Wellington starts for Inoki on 10/7.

-- Biff Wellington has a hair match against Johnny Smith before leaving for New Japan, much like Davey Boy Smith and Dynamite Kid used to lose hair matches so they could work New Japan tours bald.

-- Buddy Lane and Rip Rogers are coming in mid October.

U.S. INDEPENDENTS
-- Ric Flair only drew an average crowd on 9/20 in Portland, where he wrestled Top Gun (Dave Sierra) and was DQ'd for throwing him over the top rope.

-- "Lou Thesz was on Goerge Michael's local TV sportscast in Washington D.C. this past week and the two discussed whether or not Lou, who is now 72, could beat Hulk Hogan today. Michael gave you the impression he felt Thesz could have a few years ago but at 72 was pushing it, but Thesz came off confidently saying he'd win with little trouble since Hogan doesn't know how to wrestle. Just a few years back (1985) when Brody and Inoki were feuding in Japan, they had a photo shoot of Thesz training Brody for the match with Inoki teaching him wrestling holds. Anyway, at that point, Thesz was so quick with his moves that Brody probably couldn't have beaten him in an actual wrestling match so as silly as this sounds on the surface, ya never know. Thesz did compliment Randy Savage, calling him a great athlete and a good wrestler. About a week earlier, there was an article on Sam Muchnick's 83rd birthday in one of the St. Louis papers and Muchnick also said that he felt that today, Thesz could beat Hogan. The article only had one graph about wrestling, basically talking about the decline of the NWA and saying some negative things about what pro wrestling has turned into."

ALL JAPAN
-- Sting backed off of doing an All Japan tour after NWA pressure to cancel, because they told him they can't afford to lose him in October. His debut has been postponed to January.

-- "I had a chance to see the Tenryu-Hara vs. Tsuruta-Yatsu tag matches from 8/29 in Tokyo and 8/30 in Osaka. Both matches went about 30 minutes and were in the four-star range. The first bout started slow but had all the excellent near falls in the final few minutes, but also some missed moves, but the heat was tremendous. Finish saw Tenryu reverse a small package and pin Jumbo. The second night they actually had a superior match pacing-wise and really if it wasn't for the weak finish would have been 4 1/2 stars. Finish saw Jumbo give Tenryu three back suplexes and every time Hara would break up the fall. Then he did it again and this time just simply got the pin and Tenryu was laid out. The crowd was surprised because it was an out of the ordinary ending and the fall came with no heat build-up but it was still a great match."

-- Dan Spivey and Johnny Ace will team up in mid-November for the tag tournament.

NEW JAPAN
-- 9/12 in Fukuoka drew a near sellout 4,880 fans headlined by a 10-man elimination match of Choshu/H. Saito/Super Strong Machine/Kobayashi/M. Saito vs Fujinami/Kimura/Fujiwara/Koshinaka/Yamada.

-- 9/17 in Nagato drew a sellout 1,570 fans headlined by Choshu/Strong Machine/Kobayashi vs Fujinami/Koshinaka/Takano.

-- 9/15 in Kokuto drew a sellout 1,720 fans headlined by Fujinami/Kimura/Takano vs Starr/Hall/Vader and Choshu/Saito vs Kokina/Bigelow.

LETTERS QUOTES
"If two 'real' wrestlers are ready to leave the top of the promotion and their best feud, both in the ring and in gate potential, that they've ever had as a team, in exchange for a pass into the land of corporate wrestling decisions, that says more about the state of Jim Crockett Promotions than any wild rumors. The fact that JCP survived and thrived while every other major promotion crumbled in the face of Vince McMahon was something I took personal pride in. JCP is the home team that I grew up with. I've had a lot of fun both watching them on the tube and at the live shows. I don't care how much money and marketing expertise the WWF has, their product is heavy-handed, too predictable, condescending to their audience and boring. If the Crockett family acts now and takes the TBS offer, a tradition of 50 years standing may not go down needlessly. If not, I'd like to thank the family for all the years of fun and for bringing me what was the greatest show on Earth. The family ultimately has the right to destroy their business for no reason besides the preservation of Dusty Rhodes, just as they have the right to sell it for several million dollars and watch it survive into the next century. Just as I know Arn & Tully will be misused in the WWF, I have to admit that they made the right career choice. My fervent wish is they make a boatload of money in New York. It is nothing less than what they deserve. When Ric Flair goes, so do I as a wrestling fan." - Bruce Mitchell

"You've now reached the point where you have almost no analytical credibility with me when it comes to the WWF. I'm not saying you have a personal hard-on and it effects your judgment, only that you can no longer evaluate all wrestling by the same criteria. Has it occurred to you that the direction the WWF is going is imply not to your taste? I spoke to an awful lot of people after Summerslam. I mean real people, not guys who stay up to 3 a.m. to call you on some sportstalk radio show or Observer readers, just mainstream people who enjoy wrestling. While nobody was confusing Summerslam with Wrestlemania III, they were also sophisticated enough to realize that this was the summer show and was deliberately low-key so as not to destroy the specialness of Wrestlemania but that it was tons better than any other MSG show this year. If you want to throw in the 25-30 folks on the computer wrestling board I frequent who are very hardcore fans, several of whom subscribe to the Observer, the general impression was pretty much favorable. Nobody was going crazy as they did for the first Clash or Wrestlemania IV (Yes, your fabled failure drew mostly excellent notices online) but people were happy, especially with the Hart Foundation-Demolition match. How can you give that 1 1/2 stars when in the same issue you rate a Phil Hickerson vs. Jeff Jarrett match with 3 1/2 stars? All I'm saying is that you don't like the current WWF style of matches and too many of your readers simply like what you like and don't like what you don't like. Maybe I'm wrong, but I'd think about it. I'd also look more at what a promotion is attempting to do and how well they succeed. It was my impression that Summerslam was supposed to be, basically, the year's best MSG show, and it was. I doubt many viewers were all that turned off and suspect most enjoyed it well enough that they'll buy the next WWF PPV show. When Wrestlemania V rolls around, it will still seem like a more important event and it will cost more and people will pay it unless the promotion turns them off. That is more important than how well they draw in Philadelphia the next month. Your comment that, ipso fact, the ridiculous Flair-Luger blood angle on the PPV Bash was a success because live gates were up immediately was the most naive thing I've ever read by you. Don't you think infuriating the PPV audience was more significant than live audience, a totally different and relatively microscopic portion of the potentially vast PPV audience. The NWA's biggest problem is they never take the long view. Like children, they live in the eternal here and now. People are turned out of the blue (Windham, Luger, Murdoch, Garvin) with no build up because they need heat at some shows. They good good notices on Clash and think they've won the wrestling war. They draw a few good live gates and suddenly Dusty and Jimbo are convinced they've been right all along and should continue to run the organization even after Turner spends good money on it. You can't criticize a cowboy movie because it doesn't have ray guns. The WWF style tends toward fewer holds with much more set-up for each. Criticizing it for not equalling the workrate of some other promotion is besides the point. Workrate is all well and good, but smart fans put too much emphasis on it. Five moves aren't necessarily better than one well-executed and well set-up move." -- Bill Kunkel, Woodhaven, NY

Thanks for sharing these wonderful reviews. Can you tell which next wrestling event in coming up in month of May? Waiting for some reply

Last edited by SantosGomez; 05-05-2013 at 11:38 PM.
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Old 05-05-2013, 10:36 PM   #123
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SantosGomez View Post
Thanks for sharing these wonderful reviews. Can you tell which next wrestling event in coming up in month of May? Waiting for some reply
here's the May 9th 1988 edition

WWF
-- The WWF ran its last SNME of the season on 4/30, which was taped 4/22 in Springfield, MA. Savage is very much the star of the WWF right now, and Dave observed that the name Hulk Hogan was never even mentioned during the show. Dave also thinks it's amazing the difference in match quality on top between Hogan and Savage. Dave also noted that Duggan was really trying against Hercules, as was Hercules, but Duggan has fallen hard. Savage vs Gang was an okay match, but Savage was moving great and doing some awesome stuff in the ring. DiBiase sold big for all of Muraco's offense, but Muraco didn't do much. Bulldogs vs Demolition was terrible as they seemed to be on different pages. Rude vs Ware was the only match where both guys are about equally talented and it was pretty good, with neither guy really carrying the other.

-- The WWF is cost cutting by no longer having managers travel to house shows, only TV tapings. They may make an exception for Liz since she's such a key part of Savage's act. They have also cut back greatly on dates. A year ago, they were running 20-25 shows per week, now they are doing 10-12 shows per week. This is probably good in the short term, because Dave keeps hearing that the live shows are much better lately, although Dave credits the Savage/DiBiase feud and Bret/Bad News for most of that.

-- 4/24 at the Capital Centre drew 4,500 fans headlined by Savage vs DiBiase. 4/25 in MSG drew 17,000 headlined by Savage vs DiBiase.

-- Harley Race will be out of action for several months. He had 18 inches of his intestine removed after a ruptured intestine and at one point was on the critical list.

-- Bubba Rogers will debut with a prison guard gimmick and feud with Hulk Hogan this coming fall.

-- Owen Hart is still undecided about coming in.

-- Ricky Steamboat has quit, but Dave doesn't know more than that yet.

NWA
-- JCP has pretty much given up any claim to the New York market, as Nassau Coliseum officials have given in to the WWF's ultimatum. Crockett ran four shows there. The first show in late November was a major success, but that was expected. The second card was the Bunkhouse Stampede, which was a disaster, although the gate was still more than Titan was averaging, so they were okay. However, the ill will from the lack of organization behind the show resulted in a poor gate for the third show, which drew $48,000, about what the WWF would average on non-Hogan shows. The 6/24 date has been lost, and they have also lost their time slot on WPIX in New York, so they are now without local television in New York and Los Angeles, which they sorely need. Dave thinks the loss of television may have actually been a deliberate decision by Crockett, because they were paying upwards of $6,000 per week for their time, but that it's really going to hurt ad revenue and potential exposure.

-- The Fantastics captured the US tag team titles from the Midnight Express on 4/26 in Chattanooga in a match that went more than 40 minutes. Jim Cornette was on TV saying he was planning a party because he expected his close personal friend Jim Crockett to return the belts to him. Dave expects Cornette to not get the belts back, and get a face full of cake.

-- Ric Flair missed several dates over the last weekend, and there are several stories floating around. In one, he had a severe fever, and the other, he had a staph infection. Refunds were offered in the cities he missed.

-- 4/29 in Miami drew 4,000 headlined by Ric Flair vs Sting. 4/30 in Detroit drew 4,000 headlined by Ric Flair vs Sting in a ***1/2 match where they totally broke formula and did all highspots.

-- The next Clash is expected to be on 6/15 from the Knight Center in Miami. The Great American Bash PPV is on 7/10 in Baltimore.

-- Dave says the NWA should be happy that WCCW is doing the Triple Tower of Doom first, so they can see any bugs in the gimmick. It was the idea of Kevin Sullivan, not Dusty Rhodes.

-- "I finally saw the Barry Windham turn and it was tremendous. Every, and in every, I mean 100% of the phone calls I received this week on the turn, agreed that it was a great turn. Some didn't like Dusty getting involved since it really was a Windham vs. Luger issue, but I didn't mind as much because Rhodes has been a significant part of Windham's career almost from its onset back around 1979 in Florida, so it made sense for him to get involved when Windham turned. I can see the point of those who thought he was stealing the spotlight once again."

-- The 1988 Bash tour will be from 6/26 to 8/7, and will include 40 or 41 shows all over the country. Many shows will have War Games. Only two of the shows will be outdoors -- one at Tampa Stadium, and the other will be at Charlotte baseball stadium on 7/2. They also have a show booked at Reunion Arena in Dallas on 7/3. The wrestlers will be working six weeks without a day off, so they'll be given a one week vacation after the tour. They have to do TV on those days as well, and there will be plenty of double shots due to TBS tapings. After that, the plan is to rotate all wrestlers on a three weeks on, one week off schedule.

-- The NWA took WCCW's TV in Jackson, MS "... and celebrated by sending a tape that aired this past weekend totally void of any commentary."

-- They are plugging the US title tournament in Houston on 5/13 pretty hard. Barry Windham or Lex Luger is considered the favorite. They are also saying the Midnight Rider will wrestle, and be accompanied to the ring by Dusty Rhodes. Dave suspects they'll put Adrian Adonis or Joe Pedicino in the outfit, or maybe stuff both members of the Rock & Roll Express in the outfit, since they want back in so badly.

-- "That NWA Main Event show (which is back on Sundays on WTBS) sure isn't turning out as many of us had hoped. This past Sunday's show still had poor lighting, and truthfully, lackluster matches. Originally the main event was announced as Barry Windham & Luger against Flair & Arn Anderson, but with the Windham turn, it was changed to Luger & Sting as announced on TV. With Flair being ill, it became Arn vs. Luger in a single, which was okay because of Arn, but Luger's weaknesses were all too evident once again." Dave says he ran to the ring and was breathing heavy five minutes in, but it got better at the end when Windham ran in for the DQ, but wasn't much better than most of the SNME matches which aired the night before. "This is what they wanted to be their showcase show, with showcase production and showcase matches and they are falling way short in both categories."

-- They are cutting back to one show per night, which means several wrestlers are likely to be cut.

WCCW
-- WCCW has finally announced a lineup for the Texas Stadium show on 5/8. Michael Hayes and Ken Mantell are really trying to downplay the fact that it's called the David and Mike Von Erich Memorial Parade of Champions. They kept the name to appease Fritz, but realize it's in bad taste. The main event will be a pair of matches inside the Triple Tower of Doom. There will be three rings, built one on top fo the other, with a fireman's pole going through the center of the rings allowing wrestlers to climb up or down. Wrestlers can also switch levels by climbing up the cage itself. They will also hold an 18-man Texas Roundup (the WWF has now trademarked the term "Royal Rumble", so they can't use it) inside the three rings. The idea is that the winner is the first wrestler who gets to the top of the third ring, then from there climbs up the cage to the top and grabs the envelope which contains money and five prizes to fans whose names the wrestler will pick out, including a brand new motorcycle and a trip to Las Vegas. Also on the show is Michael Hayes vs Terry Gordy in a Badstreet match, Iceman Parsons vs Kerry Von Erich, Kevin Von Erich & Bruiser Brody vs Buddy Roberts and a partner, Chris Adams vs Terry Taylor in a No DQ match, the Simpsons against Tatum and Victory to unify the Wild West and Texas tag team titles, Bill Irwin vs Black Bart, Eric Embry vs Steve Casey, Mike George vs Jeff Raitz and Missing Link & Jason Sterling vs Angel of Death & Vince Apollo.

-- 4/24 in Fort Worth drew 500 fans.

-- Skandor Akbar made an offer to Terry Taylor to manage him.

-- Fans are heavily cheering Terry Gordy in interviews, even though they do boo him when he's against Hayes.

-- WCCW is negotiation to have its syndication package be part of the All Star Wrestling TV network ad package.

MEMPHIS
-- Curt Hennig vs Jerry Lawler will be the most talked about show of 5/7, with Lawler announcing that if he doesn't win the title, he will retire from wrestling. Eddie Gilbert, Bill Dundee, Pat Tanaka, and Paul Diamond will be brought in for the undercard. The match itself will not air on the FNN show, but will instead be released quickly as a videotape by Independent Media Marketing based in New Jersey.

-- They are announcing that Larry Hennig is ahead of Jackie Fargo in referee voting on the 900 line in an attempt to drive up calls.

-- Robert Fuller recently lost a match to Jerry Lawler where the stipulation was that Missy Hyatt would have to be Lawler's maid for a day if Fuller lost. They aired the segment on TV this weekend, which Dave says was better than the UWF version with Dark Journey, but nowhere near Jimmy Garvin and Sunshine as David Von Erich's valet for a day in WCCW in '83.

-- They are now calling Gary Young an adopted member of the Gilbert family. Tommy Gilbert called him his new adopted son, and in Young's first interview, he said, "I'll be watching Missy's behind all the time ... um, I mean her back." This reminds Dave of a joke on Blackwell's Southern Championship Wrestling. Paul E. Dangerously co-hosts the show with Rhubarb Jones. They have this ongoing joke where Paul E. always messes up his name and Rhubarb corrects him. Finally, Paul E. says, "How come whenever I call you Rubhard, you say it's Rhubarb, but when Missy Hyatt calls you Rhubarb, you tell her it's Rub Hard?"

-- Curt Hennig did a promo where he said he's the only world champion because Ric Flair and Randy Savage only wrestle in one promotion and he goes everywhere.

CONTINENTAL
-- FNN is negotiating with Continental and Dave thinks there's a strong possibility they'll be on FNN eventually.

-- "Speaking of Continental, the angle with Tom Prichard and Dirty White Boy Tony Anthony was one of the best I've seen in a long time. Part of the reason is that Gordon Solie gave his best performance in several years."

OREGON
-- On 5/7, Don Owen and Billy Jack Haynes will be running competing shows. Haynes' roster includes himself, Ray Candy, Big Bubba/Fred Ottman from Memphis, Rip Oliver, Mike Miller, Tom Magee, Tiger Chung Lee, Brian Adams, Cpl. Kirchner, Cocoa Samoa, Steven Gator Wolf, Joey Jackson, Kevin Kelly, JT Southern, Chavo Guerrero, and Dewey Forte. Haynes is planning on paying decent guarantees at $600-$800 a week, but his crew is unimpressive. Dave thinks it will be a bitter battle just because Oregon and Washington just don't have enough fans to support two local promotions running full time, much less occasional big shows from the WWF and the NWA, which has a stop in Seattle during the Great American Bash tour.

STAMPEDE
-- Crowds are falling, due to a combination of standard summer fall-off, and many local fans feel the shows are less family friendly because of all the blood.

-- Jonathan Holiday is now a heel referee.

-- Les Thornton is planning on running opposition in Alberta in May.

AJPW
-- The most recent series ended on 4/22 in Kanagawa before 3,100 fans at the Kawasaki City Gym, in which Genichiro Tenryu & Ashura Hara retained the PWF tag titles by beating Bruiser Brody and Tommy Rich. Rich subbed for Jimmy Snuka who suffered three legit broken ribs the night before when John Tenta accidentally crushed him.

-- 4/21 in Tokyo drew 1,850.

-- The Road Warriors will appear on 6/9 and 6/10. The 6/10 show is in Budokan Hall.

NJPW
-- Antonio Inoki is out of action with a broken foot, which will hurt them at the box office, since they've already lost Nobuhiko Takada and Kazuo Yamazaki to the UWF, and houses are down in general anyway. The 5/7 show will now be headlined by Choshu vs Vader, and Dave says it will be interested to see what type of drawing power Choshu has left.

OTHER
-- Joe Pedicino and WATL-TV in Atlanta are putting together a wrestling marathon for 6/17 and 6/18, which will be about 30 consecutive hours of wrestling, 6 1/2 of which will be live, in studio. It will start at 9PM on 6/17 and go non-stop until 3AM on 6/19. They will also show Henry Winkler's "The One and Only", in which Winkler plays a wrestler, a movie Dave calls his favorite wrestling movie. In addition, they'll play the movie "Mad Bull", and do a History of Pro Wrestling In Atlanta segment. It's being used to raise money for the Atlanta police force to purchase bullet proof vests, and wrestlers from several promotions are scheduled to appear. Dave has even been told two WWF wrestlers will be there.

-- Big John Studd has sent a country music demo to several record companies. "He's trying to b.s. about his fame as a pro wrestler which would sell all these records. One person in the industry told me he wrestles better than he sings. I'm not sure he realized what he was saying (actually, I'm sure he did). At any rate, don't buy it if there are any cats living near your neighborhood if it is ever released."

-- The Sheik is putting together a TV show which is on satellite for some called Big Time Wrestling, a combination of clips from Pro Wrestling This Week and old Sheik footage from the 70s.

-- In the letters page, a reader felt Dave wasn't being a good journalist because he mixed his fact and opinion together too much, and he needed to keep them separate. He also accused him of being biased against the WWF and toward the NWA, and said he thinks he sometimes pretends to have opinions that he can't possibly believe. Dave's response? Since you asked ...

"You are right about one thing. I was insulted by this letter. I wasn't insulted because you didn't agree with my opinions regarding the 3/27 shows, because anyone who agrees with all of my opinions is obviously letting me do their thinking for them. No two people are fans of this business for the exact same reasons and there has never been a major wrestling show that everyone disliked or everyone liked. Ironically, in the five-year history of this publication, Clash of the Champions came closest to being universally enjoyed. When I said Crockett kicked McMahon's ass I made it quite clear that it was in terms of presenting the better show and not making the most money. Every newsletter I've seen, more than 90 percent of the readers who responded to the poll, almost everyone that called in on the three phone-in talk shows I did the week after the show, and of more than 100 letters I had responding to my comments in the 4/4 issue, only 11 disagreed with that assessment. But even if the percentages were on the other side, this newsletter's popularity is in part because the readers know that whatever opinion I give is my honest opinion on a subject. Read back to the issue after Thanksgiving and you'll see how afraid I am to criticize the Crockett promotion, whether it be wrestlers, the booker, the front office organization or the announcers. Read my comments on Survivor Series. Where is the anti-McMahon bias you are talking about? Re-read the issue after Wrestlemania III--I said it was the greatest wrestling production of all-time. I was basically complimentary of the NBC special, which I received tons of flack over, which is fine. There is not one promoter in this business, not Fritz Von Erich, Ken Mantell, Jim Crockett, Dusty Rhodes, Vince McMahon, Pat Patterson, Verne Gagne, or even Baba and Inoki that doesn't believe I'm biased against their promotion in comparison to the others. There are mistakes, probably in each and every issue. I don't feel good about that, but the nature of this business makes that impossible to avoid. My opinions are often wrong, but they're often right. But I've never, not once given a less than honest opinion of anything in this business to protect anyone. Only once have I withheld a portion of a news story that I felt was major enough to report (I reported the actual story, but left out names of wrestlers I have no connection with -- because the climate at that time would have necessitated being fired because the media at large certainly would have picked up on one of those stars being suspended for cocaine abuse that shortly after the Duggan-Sheik incident -- most readers know the wrestler I'm referring to, and the incident). Because they are in charge of the most visible promotions, Vince McMahon, Jim Crockett, and Dusty Rhodes become open to the most criticism, and I would bet of the three, I've been the most critical of Rhodes, not McMahon. Also, the majority of readers live in either the New York City area, or either the San Francisco or Chicago areas. I could be wrong, but I believe the majority to be WWF fans, but even if that's not the case, on both Thanksgiving and Jan. 24, while I didn't take a poll, the majority of readers felt the WWF show was better on those days. That wasn't the case on March 27th. I admit to being biased toward the Crockett style of working matches compared to the WWF style, although neither is my favorite nor is either of them my least favorite. I'm also biased in favor of the way Titan handles its publicity, its organization, the way it rotates its talent and the overall professional looking atmosphere of its TV product in comparison to Crockett."
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