20 years Ago: Wrestling Observer

May 9th, 1988

Note: There is a transcript of the Bruno radio interview mentioned a few weeks back in this issue, along with Dave's thoughts on it, which is a fun read and covers a variety of topics, but there's no way I'm going through all of that. I have my limits.

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.

May 16th, 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?"

May 23rd, 1988

WWF


-- The WWF took out a full page ad in Electronic Media magazine, the trade publication for the TV industry, with the ad entitled "What A.C. Neilsen isn't tell you." The idea is that they're trying to stop some of the damage caused by Neilsen closing their loophole that skewed in wrestling's favor. The WWF has already sold most of its ads for the whole year, and they're really worried about what's going to happen now. The ad also said they were in the top five eery week since the syndication ratings debuted two weeks prior, which only Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune could claim. Dave says that's only a slight lie, because there was one week where they were #6.

-- "Hulk Hogan's wife Linda gave birth to a 10 pound, one ounce baby girl named Brooke on 5/5. It was the couple's first child."

-- Ricky Steamboat has retired, but Dave doubts it's permanent. He wants to spend more time with his son and look after his gym in Charlotte. "Just to let you know the type of people the Steamboats are, guess what I got in the mail last week. That's right, a couple of Steamboat gym T-shirts." (My note: THAT makes this whole WON recapping thing worth it.)

-- 5/8 in Binghamton, NY drew 3,500 fans headlined by Brutus Beefcake vs Honky Tonk Man. 5/12 in Erie, PA drew 1,000 fans headlined by Demolition vs Strike Force. 5/15 in Chicago drew 8,500 fans headlined by Randy Savage vs Ted DiBiase.

-- It's pretty much a lock that Owen Hart is coming in in July and will be called The Cheetah Kid, although the name could change. At this point, Hart will only reconsider if Inoki makes him a huge offer to work New Japan full time, and that's not happening realistically.

-- Wrestlers are now working 10 days on, 3 days off.

-- Four of the top 10 sports videos are Wrestlemanias.

-- There was a front page sports story in a St. Louis newspaper about Randy Savage's minor league baseball career. Fred Blassie is also doing local radio work in St. Louis to hype upcoming WWF shows.

May 30th, 1988

WWF


-- The WWF is trying hard to make Randy Savage and Elizabeth their new media darlings with Hogan out and it just isn't working. They tried to get TV stations to do things with them and have been sending them out for interviews. In the first interview, Elizabeth was called an airhead. All other interviews were cancelled at that point. "From what I'm told by those who know her, even though Liz is absolutely nothing like she is portrayed and certainly she is no great actress, calling her an airhead is an unfair charge." (My note: This is one of my favorite stories so far ...)

-- Big Bubba Rogers debuted as the Big Boss Man, with a crewcut and shaved moustache. He still has sunglasses and is being billed as a Georgia prison guard. He's been told to sell nothing until he gets to the big guys. Dave says it's obvious he's being set up for a feud with Hogan this fall.

-- Managers aren't traveling now except on TV nights. Mr. Fuji and Bobby Heenan will make some of the shows where they're scheduled to wrestle, and Jimmy Hart will appear on shows where he's banned from the building (funny ...), but Slick and Humperdink will only make TV, and Humperdink's position is in jeopardy anyway with Bam Bam Bigelow being pushed down the card. Elizabeth is considered a hugely important part of Savage's act and will not be taken off the road.

-- 5/21 at the Spectrum drew 8,028 and $101,852 headlined by Andre vs Duggan. They return on 6/18 going head to head with an NWA show in Philly. Andre and Duggan also drew a $100,000 gate in Portland, Maine. 5/20 in St. Louis drew 3,700 and a $40,000 gate headlined by Savage vs DiBiase. Several wrestlers had trouble there because of the altitude. 5/8 in Gander, New Foundland drew 2,200 fans and the equivalent of a $67,000 US gate. The Wrestling Challenge TV taping on 5/11 in Rochester, MN, drew 6,000 fans. The show was being filmed by Entertainment Tonight, as they are going to air a three-part pro wrestling special from 5/23-5/25. 5/14 in Hartford, CT drew 5,000 headlined by Demolition vs Strike Force. 5/13 in Omaha drew 7,280 fans headlined by Savage vs DiBiase. 5/12 in Winnipeg drew 4,000 fans headlined by Savage vs DiBiase.

Quote :

Shawn Michaels is apparently an awesome heel, but the problem is that it is not an act.

I can't believe I missed this gem the first time around.

May 30th, 1988

WWF


-- The WWF is trying hard to make Randy Savage and Elizabeth their new media darlings with Hogan out and it just isn't working. They tried to get TV stations to do things with them and have been sending them out for interviews. In the first interview, Elizabeth was called an airhead. All other interviews were cancelled at that point. "From what I'm told by those who know her, even though Liz is absolutely nothing like she is portrayed and certainly she is no great actress, calling her an airhead is an unfair charge." (My note: This is one of my favorite stories so far ...)

-- Big Bubba Rogers debuted as the Big Boss Man, with a crewcut and shaved moustache. He still has sunglasses and is being billed as a Georgia prison guard. He's been told to sell nothing until he gets to the big guys. Dave says it's obvious he's being set up for a feud with Hogan this fall.

-- Managers aren't traveling now except on TV nights. Mr. Fuji and Bobby Heenan will make some of the shows where they're scheduled to wrestle, and Jimmy Hart will appear on shows where he's banned from the building (funny ...), but Slick and Humperdink will only make TV, and Humperdink's position is in jeopardy anyway with Bam Bam Bigelow being pushed down the card. Elizabeth is considered a hugely important part of Savage's act and will not be taken off the road.

-- 5/21 at the Spectrum drew 8,028 and $101,852 headlined by Andre vs Duggan. They return on 6/18 going head to head with an NWA show in Philly. Andre and Duggan also drew a $100,000 gate in Portland, Maine. 5/20 in St. Louis drew 3,700 and a $40,000 gate headlined by Savage vs DiBiase. Several wrestlers had trouble there because of the altitude. 5/8 in Gander, New Foundland drew 2,200 fans and the equivalent of a $67,000 US gate. The Wrestling Challenge TV taping on 5/11 in Rochester, MN, drew 6,000 fans. The show was being filmed by Entertainment Tonight, as they are going to air a three-part pro wrestling special from 5/23-5/25. 5/14 in Hartford, CT drew 5,000 headlined by Demolition vs Strike Force. 5/13 in Omaha drew 7,280 fans headlined by Savage vs DiBiase. 5/12 in Winnipeg drew 4,000 fans headlined by Savage vs DiBiase.

June 6th, 1988

WWF


-- Electronic Media Magazine had an article about pro wrestling, and Randy Savage and Elizabeth were on the cover. Dave says it was a standard WWF press release with exaggerated numbers, and a few quotes mixed in from Jim Crockett. "The funniest part of the story was where it said that top wrestlers can earn $10 million a year. Not on this planet they can't. I would be surprised if any wrestler besides Hulk Hogan has ever earned anything approaching $1 million in any calendar year." The magazine also had an ad for Jim Crockett's Learning The Ropes sitcom, which Dave has heard is pretty bad.

-- 5/27 in MSG before 16,000 was headlined by Savage vs Dibiase. 5/28 in Bloomington, MN drew 1,850 headlined by Andre vs Duggan. Dave says they won't return to the Twin Cities for a long time with those numbers.



June 13th, 1988

WWF
-- There was a 5/31 TV taping of Wrestling Challenge in Fresno, and there were some small concerns about the crowd size. The day of the event they only had 3,000 tickets sold, but on the day of the show, they sold 4,000 more tickets, which Dave calls a pretty incredible walk-up, and they ended up filling 7,000 seats of a 10,904 capacity arena. Superstars was taped on 6/1 in Oakland before 12,120 fans in a 15,891 seat building. The paid attendance was closer to 9,000 and the gate was $110,000. "This was my first chance to see a taping since they were in San Francisco last August and this show was a lot better than the SF show, which wasn't hard. Really, the atmosphere at the show was impressive, and they do a great job putting on a 'show' but I think it's a detriment to any fan attending to have any knowledge of pro wrestling because that would make the show harder to enjoy." There were 29 matches on the show, which Dave agrees is too many, but he also says you know what you're getting into when you go to a TV taping. Dave says they did a really good job getting the matches in and out without huge delays between matches. The entire show was over in four hours, an improvement from the 4 hours, 45 minutes taping the last time at the Cow Palace, a show which saw fans boo everyone -- heels and faces -- because they were sick of squash matches and wanted to see Hogan and go home. "Two other negatives before getting into the report are in the advertising of the show. On the TV hype, they continually pushed the Honkeytonk Man vs. Brutus Beefcake match as one with Jimmy Hart banned from the building, however they forgot the stipulation that night, Hart was at ringside and in fact caused the win by Honkeytonk through interference, and then they had the gall to announce the next main event in town would be Honkeytonk vs. Beefcake with Hart banned from the building." Also, they advertised free T-shirts to all fans attending, but that was forgotten also. "I thought the idea of 15,000 fans wearing Randy Savage T-shirts would have been the greatest propaganda effect in the world, and maybe they'll do it some day, but this wasn't the day." Dave says overall, the fans seemed to enjoy the show but were exhausted near the end of it. He says it was way more organized than the AWA "Night of the Potato" show in Las Vegas the month before. Dave gave the Brady Boone vs Steve Lombardi dark match ***1/4 and called it the best match of the night.

-- All WWF broadcasting will now be done in their brand new studio in Connecticut with an NFL Today type set up. Jesse Ventura was not even at the taping. Vince McMahon was there, but was backstage running the show and never came out in front of the crowd.

-- Some memorable lines from Dave's full review of the show, without going into reviews of 29 squash matches:

"On a card which includes Andre the Giant, it's quite a statement to say this guy was by far the worst worker on the card. Actually he was so blown up he was arm weary, kind of like a wrestler in the third round or a boxer in late rounds, that he couldn't really even beat his chest. He was sucking air bad before the bell rang. He also got one of the three or four best reactions on the show for his musical intro, although until his press slam, the crowd was quiet for his 60 second squash." -- Dave on Ultimate Warrior

"The Big Boss Man squashed a kid who looked to be no more than 17-years-old named Louie something or other."

"There are an awful lot of fans who don't realize Bret Hart is a babyface."

"This guy had more heat on him than anyone I've seen in recent memory. Fans really hate his guts because of the Jake angle ... I haven't seen a heel so universally hated in who knows how long. Even Roddy Piper always had a large throng of fans, but with the exception of a few women -- and I mean very few women, maybe a dozen -- everyone booed Rude. I am impressed."

"Muraco gets the 'I'll kill you' look on his face and chases Hart to the back. Hart beat him by a good 40 feet in a 60 feet sprint. A guy behind me joked that Hart was the best athlete on the card."

"Shawn Michaels & Marty Jannetty made their return to the WWF and already broke their previous record for longevity by making it to the second night (they debuted in Fresno) ... My own opinion is for several reasons, these two guys are exactly what Titan needed, because their weakest spot in the line-up was babyface tag teams (Bulldogs are stale, Bees are 70s style wrestlers, and both Strike Force and the Barbie Dolls are too pretty and booed by fans) and none are over. They've never done the Rock & Roll gimmick even though every other promotion has done it to death, and now past death. They got a good reaction considering a lot of fans didn't know who they were (a lot did, however). They are called 'The Rockers', becaues Verne trademarked the name Midnight Rockers."

"Beefcake is over huge here because the poor folks in the Bay area actually take pride in his being billed from San Francisco. To me that's like taking pride in living in the AIDS capital of the world." (My note: Good Lord ...)

"Bad News Brown gave Devon DeLeon with the enzuigiri. Do you realize how over Bad News holding that black glove in the air after the match would have been had he done it in 1969? You'd think Verne came up with that gimmick since nobody, and I mean nobody, understand the significance of it. The only problem is Verne just learned last year that baseball broke the color barrier so it'll be at least a decade before soemone tells him about John Carlos and Lee Evans in the 1968 Olympics."

-- From Electronic Media magazine: "While sports prognostication is normally a risky business, the scenario of who becomes the World Wrestling Federation's champ is scripted out months in advance. It's based on the popularity of the wrestler, not his record, according to the results each performer inspires in WWF's multimillion dollar merchandising sales. Based on that criteria, insiders are laying odds that the next WWF champion will be 'Million Dollar Man' Ted DiBiase. But look for Hulk Hogan to reclaim the crown in a matter of months." Dave expands on this by saying Savage is drawing better as champion than anyone would have expected, and Hogan will draw against Andre and Boss Man in fall, with or without the belt. "Really, this summer reminds me of New Japan's 1983 summer. Everyone assumed the big boom for New Japan (when they sold out every night -- well actually 90% of shows from January through August sold out) was because of the big draw, Antonio Inoki and without Inoki, the business was sputter. Many assumed that this summer, without Hogan, WWF would sputter. New Japan didn't, and it touched off the biggest and most well-known 'scandal' of the decade. WWF won't have anything of the sort, but people are realizing the WWF will survive just fine without Hogan, which conceivably could hurt Hogan's 'pull' even though he is certainly still the main man. There isn't going to be a coup for the top spot because now more than ever, wrestlers are paranoid, and have a right to be, because nobody isn't expendable right now. If Hogan were to never return, sure, WWF would be hurt, but they would survive and still flourish even though they wouldn't reach the Hogan-level of interest for a while -- maybe a long while. And Titan really has no viable competition right now because the NWA is in financial turmoil. From a business standpoint, it looks logical to keep the title on Savage if he can continue to draw. However, the question is, does Hogan's ego need the belt and will he demand the belt upon his return? Will he have the same power to basically call all his shots as he had when he left and when many felt he was the entire promotion and the WWF would collapse while he was gone? If Savage's drawing power fails, then sure, give the thing to DiBiase for the interim and go to Hogan. But if not, you've got two attractions (Savage and Hogan) who can draw in the fall, and with Titan expanding its schedule, two good houses per night are better than one. In fact, Savage as champion may be even more valuable because Savage will wrestle 10 days on, three days off as everyone else does. Hogan will only work weekends and TV nights -- so mainly three nights most weeks."

-- The WWF will be expanding its schedule starting on 7/7. Not only will they have a C team, but they will also have a D team, which will do more small towns and charity shows. They will generally run cities considered too small for them to bother with in the past. They see this as their chance to really make the big kill and finish the job against the remaining territories. On the charity shows, the WWF can offer a better deal than the territories can afford to offer. "In other words, say Ron Fuller is trying to get a charity show in some small Kentucky town. Titan can offer a better deal, and Fuller doesn't get the show, and that's one less night of work for Fuller's crew." It will also allow the WWF to seriously deplete the NWA roster if they decide to do so.

-- The WWF has signed Terry Taylor, the Iron Sheik, and possibly Owen Hart. Iron Sheik has to go to rehab before reporting to work.

-- The WWF drew its biggest crowd ever in Oregon on 5/30 (they couldn't even get over 5,000 in the past with Hogan in Portland), drawing 7,500 headlined by Brutus Beefcake vs Honky Tonk Man.

-- Tama quit the WWF and Sivi Afi has replaced him in The Islanders. "In one fell swoop they go from one of the best teams in wrestling to one of the worst." Dave has heard two reasons for Tama quitting. One is that he was upset with his Wrestlemania check. The other was a family pride thing, as he was pressured by the rest of his family to walk out after Vince got rid of Sika.

-- "You'll get a kick out of this one. At the tapings in Rochester, MN on 5/11, Vince gave the troops a speech about the evils of steroids, saying that our TV will make you larger than life and you don't need them. This came in the wake of an employee at some auditorium accidentally finding steroids and a needle left over from a WWF show and the employee freaked out because he was afraid he might have gotten AIDS or something from it." (My note: What's with Dave's AIDS hysteria this week?)

-- 6/3 in Tacoma, WA drew 11,000 fans headlined by Savage vs DiBiase. 6/4 in Boston drew 8,000 fans headlined by Andre vs Duggan. 6/4 in Los Angeles drew 10,000 fans headlined by Savage vs DiBiase. 5/28 in Providence, RI, drew 5,400 fans headlined by Savage vs DiBiase.

-- There is talk of a valet feud between Raven (My note: Who?? Dave says she's Rude's sister) and Cheryl Roberts, but Dave is told there will be no physical interaction if it happens.

June 20th, 1988

WWF
-- "A new heel manager is headed in called Brother Love or something like that, patterned after Brother Ernest Angel. I've got a feeling I know who this masked manager is but will wait until he actually arrives." (My note: Interesting. I suspect he thought it was Jim Cornette based on a note later in this issue.) Dave later in the issue says it's Bruce Prichard, and he doesn't think he'll be managing, but rather just doing an interview segment.

-- Rick Martel is going to be taking time off to help his wife recover from surgery.

-- Dave raved about the 5/27 Savage vs DiBiase match from MSG, saying DiBiase is singlehandedly trying to change the workrate in the WWF. He said the match only went 12 minutes, but was as hard and fast-paced as anything you'll see in the U.S. aside from maybe Midnight Express vs Fantastics.

-- 6/6 at the Meadowlands drew 3,000 fans headlined by Andre & Rude vs Duggan & Roberts.

-- Hulk Hogan's movie is being filmed in Atlanta. Vince is trying to get a non-WWF wrestler to do the job to Hogan in the movie. Last word is that Stan Hansen has agreed to do it. "You'd think with all the wrestlers Vince has in his stable he wouldn't need to get outside help for a wrestling or fight scene in a movie."

-- The WWF is planning a big outdoor show in Milwaukee at County Stadium in late July.

-- Jim Duggan has reinjured his hamstring.

-- Jim Wilson, who exposed wrestling with Eddy Mansfield on 20/20, is going to be on the Morton Downey Jr. show. The show reached out to the WWF to have someone on to defend their side of the story, but they don't want to be involved since they don't have complete control.

-- The 8/29 PPV has officially been named Summerslam and will be headlined by Hogan & Savage vs Andre & DiBiase with Jesse Ventura as the ref.

-- Vince McMahon will be producing Bob Costas' new late night talk show, which is Vince's first non-wrestling production job. The WWF may get another prime time special from NBC if the writer's strike isn't settled soon.

-- Bam Bam Bigelow's wife gave birth to a baby boy.

-- 6/10 in Pittsburgh drew 4,734 headlined by Randy Savage vs Ted DiBiase. 6/12 in Springfield, MA drew 2,500 fans headlined by Andre & Rude vs Duggan & Roberts. 6/10 in Manchester, NH drew 1,100 fans headlined by Junkyard Dog vs Ron Bass. 6/18 in Philadelphia drew 4,188 fans and a $53,349 gate headlined by Andre vs Duggan.

-- It is rumored that Gene Okerlund has been fired and will be replaced by Sean Mooney.

June 27th, 1988

WWF

-- The Powers of Pain have jumped from the NWA to the WWF. They had been negotiating on and off for two months with the WWF, and they officially quit the NWA last Sunday, and debuted with the WWF the following Saturday. Dave is surprised, but they will be pushed as babyfaces in the WWF and are expected to be pushed hard and feuding with Demolition by the end of July. They will be expected to do their own interviews, as they will not have a manager. Both guys apparently wanted out before the scaffold matches were scheduled to take place with the Road Warriors, because of the fear of guys their size taking such a huge bump and causing major knee damage. The NWA did acknowledge their leaving, with Paul Jones and the Road Warriors burying them on TV. Dave thinks this helps the WWF, because they can probably do something with the two, considering that they're bizarre and powerful looking. Dave says they aren't particularly good in the ring. Barbarian has lots of great moves but can't put together a match, and Warlord has improved but is still pretty bad. Dave also doesn't think it will hurt the NWA much because they weren't major attractions, and their feud with the Road Warriors never really drew. Dave says the bigger story is that the jump has taken away any impact a future jump from the Road Warriors will have, because they will now be seen as the imitators, even though they're not. The POP left the NWA without truly giving notice. Warlord no-showed the 6/12 TV taping in Albany, GA. Barbarian was there and had words with Dusty and ended up quitting. Crockett failed to trademark the name, so the WWF can still use it. "That's kind of a surprise in this day and age, but then again, trademarking names is basically to protect the company in marketing ventures so an outside company doesn't market things of the sort and the two really had no value in the merchandising department."

-- No Holds Barred just started filming in Atlanta and will be shot over the next two months. Shane Productions is doing the movie (it's their first full length feature film) and Joan Severence will be the female lead. Vince McMahon will receive an executive producer credit. Dave suspects it's more intended for a video market than a big screen market.

July 4th, 1988

WWF
-- The WWF has a date in the Greensboro Coliseum on Sunday, August 7. The show will be headlined by Hogan vs Andre. Dave says this should sell out the Coliseum, something the NWA hasn't done since a Flair/Barry Windham match early in '87. The WWF also just ran a successful show in Richmond, VA, and will be able to promote in the new 20,000-seat Charlotte Coliseum. "And these are cities which over the long haul don't have the population base to support two promotions if they each run monthly cards. It is going to be an uphill battle for the NWA from this point on."

-- Early reports are that Vince McMahon's own Road Warriors creations in the Powers of Pain have been a success. There may end up being more to this, as Crockett claims to own the team name, and Paul Jones was still using the term on TBS after they jumped. They've been putting Tito Santana with them at ringside as a cue to fans that it's okay to cheer them, but only in arenas and not on TV. Dave says what's scary is that so many fans believe they are the real Road Warriors and that is part of why they are being cheered so much, which he calls a reaction nobody anticipated.

-- At the last TV taping, Haku was repackaged as "King Haku", so the Islanders tag team is done. Dave is told it's not getting over live at all, and wthe whole coronation and gimmick doesn't sound good on paper either.

-- Stan Hansen and Jeep Swenson are in Atlanta filming Hulk Hogan's movie and Dave wonders if fans take those jobs that they'll do on the big screen seriously. The WWF has rented the 8,000 seat Alexander Coliseum where Georgia Tech plays for an eight hour film date on 7/16 to tape all the wrestling scenes for the whole movie. Dave suspects that Hansen and Swenson are hoping that if they do a good job on screen that it will result in a job with Titan. "You know, with Hansen, Hogan might have his best 'match' of the year, especially since they can edit it in so many different ways before we'll ever see the finished product."

-- There may be a Ken Patera/Iron Sheik feud to tie into the summer Olympics since both have been in the Olympics in the past.

-- 6/24 in MSG drew 18,300 for the Savage/DiBiase cage match, which Dave says everyone is raving about. 6/23 in Utica, NY, drew 3,453 fans headlined by Bulldogs vs Islanders. 6/20 in Syracuse, NY drew 3,000 fans headlined by Rude vs Roberts. 6/24 in Richmond, VA drew 7,000 fans headlined by Savage vs DiBiase. 6/26 in Pontiac, MI drew less than 2,000 in the Silverdome. They have been running shows there that have been drawing embarrassing numbers (under 2,000) so they are moving to The Palace starting on 8/15. Hogan and Savage will both be on that show, because the WWF is trying really hard to get fan interest back up in Detroit.

July 11th, 1988

WWF
-- The 7/31 show at the 55,000-seat Milwaukee County Stadium will be headlined by Hogan vs Andre in a cage. Dave thinks they're doing this match as a dry run for a possible house show series in the fall, which if it happens, will probably be the biggest money house show program they've done since Hogan/Orndorff.

-- Owen Hart is starting with the WWF. He will be under a mask as a C Team performer. He will probably debut on 7/13 in Lacrosse, WI, at the same taping as Terry Taylor. Dave also suspects Hogan will appear at either that taping or 7/14 in Cedar Rapids, IA. Regarding Owen's WWF run, Dave says the following: "There are a couple of ways at looking at this. First, it is simply impossible for Hart to have the calibre of matches with Titan that he did on his most recent Japan tour against the likes of Koshinaka, Hase and Yamada. The opponents aren't good enough, and he wouldn't be allowed to do the moves. Still, if marketed correctly, and Titan generally does a good job in this regard (and certainly a better job than any other promotion), a flying wrestler with the right gimmick, the right kind of push, and the right opponent can be a major thing for Titan. They don't have anyone like him. Jimmy Snuka was only 5-10 and was one of the three or four hottest babyfaces of the last decade in the Northeast simply for one move. Satoru Sayama, who weighed 60 pounds less than Hart, was one of the two or three biggest names in this entire business in the early part of the decade. At the same time, Sayama never would have been as big a star as he was if he didn't have the Dynamite Kid, Bret Hart, Black Tiger, Kobayashi and others of nearly the same size and of good calibre to feud with. Still, with all the big guys in Titan, Hart is a comparative midget (though in talent, the midgets are the big guys in most cases) and if the size difference is accentuated by putting him in with the wrong foe and having him sell size and fake strength moves, it will be very easy for Titan fans to simply see him as 'too small'."

-- All of the WWF's pay-per-view records were shattered by the Mike Tyson vs Michael Spinks boxing match drawing a 15 percent national PPV buy rate. It grossed $30 million in the PPV market. Dave says it will never happen, but Hogan vs Tyson on pay-per-view would draw more than Mike Tyson against any boxer, simply because there is little mystery to Tyson matches until a new contender is groomed. While Hogan is seen as a fake, his size might make people think he has a chance.

-- No Holds Barred finishes taping on 7/30, so 7/31 will be Hogan's first match back. Dave doesn't see anyone in a hurry to put the belt back on him, and there is no reason to if he can draw without it, at least until Wrestlemania.

-- "The Ted DiBiase vs. Randy Savage cage match from the last MSG show was the best match at MSG in years -- the last ****1/2 bout at the Garden I can recall was the Sgt. Slaughter vs. Iron Sheik boot camp match in the summer of 1984. This match wasn't quite up to that level, but was the best WWF match I've seen at least since the Savage vs. Steamboat match at the Silverdome. I'm not a big fan of WWF cage matches and they spent too much time trying to escape (and four times with Savage about to get out, Virgil punched him back in), however you can't deny that both guys went all out for 12 minutes climbing up and down, taking bumps and working at a pace about 10 times normal for WWF main eventers. You know, some of the matches these two have had of late have been so good that people are talking like the WWF is going to get back to traditional wrestling, whatever that may be since the style of wrestling in the 70s was difference in each circuit and they go nationwide. But people fail to watch the prelim matches on these MSG cards, which are awful from top-to-bottom, or forget that Titan's top matches besides Savage vs. DiBiase are Andre vs. Duggan and Honkeytonk vs. Beefcake, two of the poorest match-ups for wrestling and action of this decade."

-- Except for the cage match with Andre, Hogan's next series of matches will be with mid-level heels like Haku and Bad News Brown. His big feud in fall will probably be with Big Boss Man. Dave thought Boss Man was doing well until he saw a horrible match he had with Scott Casey.

-- 6/24 in Providence drew 3,000 headlined by Roberts/Duggan vs Rude/Andre. 6/25 in Baltimore drew 7,000 for Savage vs DiBiase on top. 6/19 in Elizabeth, NJ drew 1,157 and a $12,600 gate headlined by Honkeytonk Man vs. Brutus Beefcake. 7/1 in Calgary drew 12,500 and $160,000 Canadian headlined by Savage vs DiBiase in a *** match.

-- USA is planning a three-hour special on 07/18.

-- WWF has booked a second date in Greensboro on 10/28. They debut at the Greensboro Coliseum on 8/7 with Andre vs. Hogan on top.

-- The latest in the neverending Vince/Bruno Sammartino feud is that announcers have been instructed going forward to always call Superstar Billy Graham "The Living Legend".

July 18th, 1988

WWF
-- Owen Hart debuted wearing a mask as The Blue Angel. Dave is told Owen's matches are mostly stalling with none of the spectacular moves he is known for, which is what people expected.

-- 7/8 in Redding, CA drew a sellout 2,500 fans headlined by One Man Gang vs. Koko B. Ware. 7/9 in Chico, CA drew a sellout 1,200 fans for the same lineup. 7/7 in Toledo drew 3,500 fans headliend by Savage vs DiBiase. 7/3 in Warwick, RI drew 620 fans headlined by Powers of Pain (which everyone thought was the Road Warriors) vs The Bolsheviks. 6/26 in Toronto drew 10,000 headlined by Savage vs. DiBiase. 7/1 in Niagara Falls drew a near sellout 5,500 fans headlined by Rick Rude vs Jake Roberts.

-- "I finally got to see Brother Love after all the commotion. This is probably the most talked about gimmick of the past few months with most people hating everything about it and a few thinking Bruce Prichard does a good job but still hating the idea. I've only seen one, with Rick Rude. Prichard is real good, but it reminded me of a bad Saturday Night Live sketch. They've got one good idea and created a sketch from it, but don't have enough materialt o keep the sketch from getting boring after their one good idea is shown. I could see this getting very tiresome in the long run. The one with Rude was good by WWF standards, which means bad but simplistic enough to get the gimmicks over to fast-food mentality fans --- in other words it seemed effective. As for those who take offense to it because of the way it parodies religion, just remember that entertainment is a parody of life and the WWF is a parody of entertainment. Besides, that's exactly the reaction they want you to have."

-- Savage is booked to headline against Andre the Giant in August.

March 1984 Observer Recap

-On the Cover (yes, there was a cover): An “In Memoriam” picture of David Von Erich.

TOP STORY: David’s death recap. This was reported straight up as acute enteritis. The shock of this in both Japan and Texas was reflected on, with Dave noting it was not known how this would affect business in WCCW in the immediate future. Dave also mentions that David was the strongest contender to win the World heavyweight title at that time. There is also a rundown of David’s career highlights and his pro debut is noted as being June 28th, 1977, going to a draw with John Studd.

Notable quote: “He (David) had a flu-type condition for six weeks, but in our business if you can walk, you go out there. David was in no condition to wrestle. I feel very guilty about it. I’m very upset about it.”—Fritz Von Erich

OTHER LATE NOTES(included here in the front of the newsletter with the DVE news because the David piece was actually added after this issue was put to bed): Tito Santana should be IC Champ by the time this publication gets to it’s readers…Dynamite Kid over The Cobra in the tourney finals of the WWF Jr. heavy tournament in Japan. Davey Boy 3rd, Kuniaki Kobayashi 4th…1st WWF show in St. Louis drew 13,000 at the Kiel and 2500 on closed circuit to see John Studd win a Battleroyal where he eliminated Hogan and Andre together as they were fighting each other in a corner. The card was taped as the WWF wanted to emulate the way WCCW did their TV (big matches, classy production) and so it could air in markets the WWF was breaking into for the first time, like Chicago and Columbus…Bob Geigel ran a show in St. Louis the week before and drew 10,700 (my note--!!!)…..Bruiser and Crusher to team again in Chicago (my note—went to a double DQ vs. Stan Hansen and Nick Bockwinkel on March 4th)..

PULLING NO PUNCHES: Dave addresses the biggest, most talked about story in pro wrestling: the change/metamorphosis of Pro Wrestling itself.
-notes Vince going head to head with Geigel/Verne/Harley in St. Louis
-Vince possibly opening a third promotion in Japan as early as April
-Lists many wrestlers rumoured to be leaving their current area and and notes the devastating effect that going to the WWF would have on their home promotion. Wrestlers rumoured included Orton, Valentine, Butch Reed and Brody
-notes Sayama was supposed to return to MSG on 3/25 billed as “The Tiger” and how the plan was for him to be the WWF’s top draw overseas
-every major promoter except Eddie Graham was forming a NATO-type of alliance with one or more other promoters to help fight off WWF invasion. Even Baba and Inoki were planning a joint card for the middle of the year to counteract any potential McMahon forays into Japan
-Dave correctly noted that despite the thunder of the WWF, it remained to be seen if Vince could actually drive any other established promotions into the ground. He does note that the WWF would probably have a good shot at taking down the AWA due to the familiarity of the workers to the area (Schultz, Hogan, Okerlund, etc.), but that WCCW and Memphis would probably not have to worry right away
-Dave says he is not against what Vince is doing in principle because it would benefit everyone from the wrestlers to the fans paying to get in. The only ones not benefiting would be the promoters. He is against what McMahon is doing for many other reasons, though:
a) Vince isn’t playing a game based on who runs the best shows or has the best talent/booking, he’s banking on “political power plays” to aid his takeover bids. He notes how Eddie Einhorn never got a fair chance to run on the East Coast due to Vince Sr. blocking him out of all the arenas. Same thing happened in 1982 to a lesser extent to Bruno Sammartino’s IWF promotion (my note--??What’s the story on Bruno having a promotion?)
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/cool.gif) Vince was learning as he went with a gaffe in St. Louis when he tried to block out Geigel et al from having a tv outlet—he screwed up but is taking notes…
-Ole Anderson is splicing together clips from past shows putting current WWF stars like Iron Sheik, Tito and Piper in a bad light on their TV. Ole even dug up Lawler vs. Hogan footage to show that Hogan wasn’t so great. Ole would be noting at the end of the clips stuff like “well, Pat Rose beat Tito Santana here…” which Dave thinks would actually piss off the fans even more due to their being treated like idiots (i.e., nobody would believe Pat Rose ever beat Tito at any stage of his career)
-notes Ole and Verne Gagne set to work together and wishes Verne luck.
-Final Notes about McMahon: Working with him is no bargain (see George Cannon, Inoki and Altoona promoter gene Dargen), and Vince was heading for trouble trying to keep a room full of Superstars happy. Hogan’s contract was already apparently being pointed at by others and was becoming a sore spot.
Dave said he would use this column every month to track the latest on McMahon’s takeover bids in various areas.


DAVE'S PERSONAL WORSTS OF 1983:
Worst Wrestler: Ox Baker (honorable mention: the Crusher and Adrian Street (but notes Street is at least entertaining)
Worst Babyface: Tommy Rich.
Worst Feud: wants to pick Rich and Sawyer but his poll naming it third best feud makes that impossible…doesn’t seem to actually name one.
Worst Tag Team: Bob Brown and Buzz Tyler (apologies to The Strongbow Brothers and the Zambuie Express)
Worst Finishing Hold: Crusher’s Bolo Punch. Honorable mention: Bob Backlund’s Chicken Wing, despite Dave noting that it was basically a legit hold.
Least Agile: Plowboy Frazier
Worst Brawler: Jimmy Valiant
Weakest Wrestler: Baba and Mike Von Erich
Worst on Interviews: too many to pick just one but notes Bellomo, Backlund, Strongbow and Putski among others
Worst Circuit: Florida, “not because of the talent or the gimmicks, but how that promotion pretends that there is credibility around their horrible stunts.”
Worst Run Circuit: Ole’s Georgia with Southwest not far behind
Worst TV Show: Sheiks’ Big Time Wrestling. If only considering “larger’ promotions then Geigel’s Wrestling at the Chase shows wins
Worst Match Dave Saw All Year: Angelo Mosca Jr. (in his second week) vs. Ox Baker
Worst Announcer: Dave McClane from Bruiser’s Indiana promotion (“not only worse than Solie, but worse than Jeff Walton out of Los Angeles.”)
Worst Manager: Don Carson, honorable mention to Skandor Akbar and Paul Ellering

Did you know that Dave gave his phone number in this issue in case any of his readers wanted to phone him?

He’s also shilling a three tape “Best of 1983” set. Each tape is 4 hours long and has most of the major bouts of the year on them.


Next is a reprint of a newspaper article on Lord Athol Layton. The paper it is from is not noted. It’s the actual article added into the newsletter.

An Article by Joe Soucheray is next, detailing a Minneapolis group called the USA Professional Wrestling Group that had a card scheduled for Minneapolis which was cancelled due to interference by unnamed parties. It is whispered that it’s Verne and Wally Karbo’s doing, but Karbo is interviewed about it and denies it and the columnist doesn’t believe they would bother given that the talent they were trying too bring in was lightweight (Amazing Zulu, Bruno Sammartino Jr) and the AWA had nothing to fear from such a fledgling group.

Next is another Article, this one from John Sherman. It details Hulk Hogan being upset with Verne and Wally for advertising him on the Christmas St. Paul card, knowing full well he had terminated his service to the AWA a full four weeks earlier. Hogan goes on to claim his problems stem from the fact that the powers-that-be screwed him out of the AWA title three separate times...and a whole bunch more kayfabe hyperbole about one champion, unification, and whatnot. The point of this article seems to be that Hogan wanted to come back to the Twin Cities with the WWF belt in tow. The article did a good job of making the AWA look poor and heightening anticipation for Hogan returning to the area as a champion in the future (which finally happened in June of 1984).

Both of these articles are noted on the next page as being from Twin Cities papers.

LETTERS: Mick Karch has a letter in about a previous Vince McMahon article and AWA implications. Mike Rosen writes a friggin NOVEL about the AWA and the idea of a fight with the WWF in the near future next. (my note—Mike I believe was the original source for the 1983-85 AWA Raw Footage discs (Civic Center bouts) that I introduced a few years back. He apparently has lots more if anyone knows where he might be at…)

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