Loss

WWF -- At press time, Dave was still waiting on details of the card, but the WWF show on 7/31 at Milwaukee County Stadium drew the largest crowd for a pro wrestling show since Wrestlemania III with the same main event. The crowd was announced at 35,000, but Dave is being told somewhere between 27,000 and 30,000, with a gate between $350,000 and $400,000 for a 15-match card headlined by Hogan vs Andre. Dave makes the point that the lineup for the card would have worked better for Summerslam, which seems like a weak show. Hennig vs Taylor was supposedly the best match on the show. Hogan was down about 20 pounds from his wrestling weight, as he had just finished filming No Holds Barred. The next night, the NWA ran a show which drew 3,800 ans and a $50,000 gate, which Dave says is an impressive house considering this show was the day before. -- No Holds Barred is apparently not as bad as you'd think, with Hogan doing a pretty decent job of playing himself, much better than the "Goldie Locks and the Bears" pilot. (My note: What is this?) The movie is scheduled to have a May release and was supposed to have a $15 million budget and went way over. Dave thinks it will do better in home rental than in the movie theater. -- Lots of speculation over who Brother Love will be interviewing at Summerslam. It is being billed as someone who has never been in the WWF before, which limits it to Owen Hart, Terry Taylor and Curt Hennig. Dave predicts Curt Hennig because whoever it is will get a big push and he seems in a better position to be pushed than the other two. Dave acknowledges Hennig has been in the WWF before, but anything before 1984 doesn't count. Dave says based on TV tapings, there will not be an IC title change, even though he thought otherwise, as they seemed to be building toward Honky Tonk Man/Ultimate Warrior at TV tapings. "Just when you think you've seen wrestling matches as bad as they can be, the WWF springs a new feud on you like this." -- Dave says Summerslam should be called "How Little Can You Give The Fans On A Major PPV Event And Still Draw An Audience?" (My note: That's a little long.) They are doing a good job hyping the main event, teasing all sorts of subtleties, from Hogan teasing a heel turn calling Liz his manager (which will never happen in a billion years), Jesse will double cross either the faces or heels, and now they are hyping that Elizabeth will wear a string bikini. -- Superstars was taped on 8/3 in Wheeling, WV before a sellout 7,200 fans. John Ziegler, the guy who is credited with developing anabolic steroids for usage by weightlifters, worked as a jobber at the TV taping. -- The WWF's venture into Greensboro was a flop, much to the surprise of everyone, drawing only 3,670 fans for a show headlined by Hogan vs Andre. -- Hulk Hogan wants a shoot match with Mike Tyson at Wrestlemania V and thinks he can win, which gets Dave going on maybe his first Wrestling Classics "Who would win in a shootfight?"-type discussion in the WON ever. NWA -- The Bash did a 2.2 buyrate and was in 190,000 homes (My note: That's a surprisingly high number, considering WWE shows don't do much higher than that these days.) While the show grossed $3 million, the take home will be between $300,000 and $500,000, which is a disappointment. There is another PPV scheduled for December, but it apparently will not be Starrcade, although things can change. -- "I don't think there was anything wrong with the way the NWA folks promoted the show on their television, and I also don't think there should be any second-guessing of the line-up itself, as whatever changes wouldn't have made any real difference in the buy rate. The problem is, as with an major NWA event, is that there is no outside media publicity. So there is nobody but the NWA folks on TV reinforcing to a fan that this is really an important event, which is one of Titan's biggest advantages in producing a PPV event. The other problem is that with TV ratings nosediving for the NWA the way they have, all the great hype was missed by a lot of potential customers and with no outside media hype, a lot of people who may have been mildly curious enough to buy the thing, but weren't curious enough to tune into their often-boring TV shows, may not have even known about the show, or wasn't getting the hype for the show to convince them to buy at the last minute." -- Dave went to two Bash shows -- one in Las Vegas on 8/4 and one in Oakland on 8/6. Both shows were good, but Vegas was considerably better. The biggest difference between the two shows was not the workrate, but the crowd. The Las Vegas crowd was only about 3,200 in the Thomas & Mack Center, but they reacted to everything and the heat was strong. Oakland drew around 6,000, just barely shy of a sellout in a bad part of town, which Dave would call a minor miracle. Dave counted 1 in 20 women at the Vegas show (My note: Why would he do such a thing?) and said Sting and the Road Warriors were very over. The crowd was very similar to a WWF crowd in that the big spots got a huge reaction, but there was also a lot of silence. There were almost no kids, which was no surprise since TV airs so late in that market. Highlights were MX & Cornette vs Fans in a ****1/2 bunkhouse match and the main event of Dusty/Luger vs Flair/Windham was ***. In Oakland, the Fantastics were booed hard and the match was still ***1/2, but the crowd reaction to the babyfaces hurt it. The War Games was ****. Dave says Flair is not at his best in matches like this, that he's much better in straight wrestling matches, and Luger threw a terrible dropkick, but the match was still great thanks to Hawk, Arn and Tully. -- The Bash tour ended on 8/7 and there are no shows at all until the next TV taping. There are major shows coming at the end of the month at the Omni and Charlotte Coliseum. Flair vs Luger, Windham vs Sting, Garvin vs Dusty, MX vs Horsemen, and Road Warriors vs Varsity Club is expected to headline the upcoming run of house shows. MX vs Horsemen is the hottest feud right now, although Flair/Luger should be given all the hype. Fans seem to realize if Luger is ever going to win the title, it's not going to take place on a house show. -- The Fantastics were going to turn heel and feud with the Rock & Roll Express until Gibson left, which Dave says is a shame, because that would give the NWA a really deep line-up for their next house show run. -- 7/30 at the Capital Centre drew 10,000 and a $157,000 gate headlined by a **** Tower of Doom match of Horsemen/Sullivan vs Rhodes/Luger/Sting/Road Warriors. 8/2 in Sioux City, IA drew 1,784 fans and a $30,000 gate Flair/Arn/Tully vs Sting/Doc/Nikita. -- In a "WCW Before WCW" story: 8/3 in Seattle drew a sellout of 7,500 fans sold out days in advance. They turned away 2,500 at the gate. They intended to book the 16,000-seat arena but booked the wrong arena because the names were so similar (Seattle Center Arena, Seattle Center Coliseum). The gate was still $110,000. The show was headlined by an 8-man cage match, and was said to be a great match, even with Don Owen's crew filling out the undercard. Crockett used Owen's guys to show he was working with them and not against them. -- 8/5 in Los Angeles drew 4,700 fans and a $78,000 gate headlined by a ****1/2 War Games match. -- Ivan Koloff and Paul Jones are about to split. There is talk of bringing in Jason the Terrible from Stampede as the Russian Assassin. "Do you realize that if/when Ted Turner buys the thing that they may actually give Nikita another push?" -- The TBS show had a skeleton crew because half the roster missed the show, so they ran jobber matches on TV, which Dave thought made for great TV because you didn't know what would happen. He said Jim Ross and Tony Schiavone did a great job getting over the matches. -- An Observer reader complained about not getting to meet any wrestlers except Brad Armstrong and Jimmy Garvin at the recent Detroit show where fans were very upset, and Gary Juster provided free tickets and made arrangements for him to meet all the wrestlers on the next show. -- "WCW Before WCW", Part 2: Only 30-40 fans showed up for the pre-match party with every major babyface on the roster where fans were given a chance to meet them in person. The NWA didn't advertise this in advance. "I was originally going to attend the thing, but was hungry and went out to dinner with friends instead." During the meet and greet, they aired the Adrian Adonis piece on Entertainment Tonight where Dave Meltzer was interviewed. A few of the babyfaces started freaking out, and Dave says had he showed up, someone would be reporting on another reporter getting stiff clotheslines in a dressing room. -- Morale is way up because wrestlers are starting to get their back pay. WCCW -- There are rumors that Ken Mantell has walked out, leaving Kevin Von Erich and Doris Adkisson in charge. "I don't need to tell anyone what happened the last time Kevin was in charge. Dave has heard nothing about why this happened, as Mantell had a lot of money invested in WCCW and business has slowly been improving all year. The only thing Dave has heard is problems with the Von Erichs. Most expect him back in a couple of weeks, as part of his deal is that he can't run Wild West in competition. -- Terry Gordy is back and will feud with Kamala. -- Eric Embry is on vacation and will be back in a few weeks. -- 8/2 in Lubbock drew 825 fans headlined by Kerry vs Iceman. The Brody memorial show on 7/29 drew a near-sellout 3,400 fans. AWA -- Bam Bam Bigelow, Eddie Gilbert and Paul E. Dangerously are all negotiating, which would likely mean Gilbert would win the title. They would only need to work TV anyway since the AWA doesn't tour, and no way are Gilbert and Paul E. leaving Continental since they run the place. MEMPHIS -- Lawler vs Landell drew 6,000 at MSC on 8/1. Bigelow/Jarrett vs Fuller/Golden co-headlined the show. -- "You can often tell what's going to happen here by watching CWF a few weeks earlier." -- Dave thinks they're dragging out Brickhouse Brown's babyface turn too long. -- Ringside ticket prices on spot shows are going from $5 to $9, which hasn't hurt the gates at all. CONTINENTAL -- They are building up a feud between Eddie Gilbert and Missy Hyatt, even acknowledging their marriage on television. It started with Alan Martin, in a "playboy nerd" gimmick, kissing Missy. Announcer Charlie Platt was interviewing Gilbert and told the crowd he is married to Missy and the crowd was pretty stunned, except for those who read the Apter mags. Platt asked Gilbert what he was going to do about it and Gilbert said nothing. Later in the show, Gilbert and Hyatt had a domestic squabble. Paul E. later told Missy Gilbert is upset because she's too nice to the idiot fans and is in Tom Prichard's corner instead of his. -- They have added TV in Biloxi, MS, and Monroe, LA, and will start running these towns soon. They want to also expand into Tallahassee, FL, and Little Rock, AR. -- Two recent fan near-riots in Dothan, AL. A fan pulled out a gun and 8 fans ended up being arrested in a melee. STAMPEDE -- Brian Pillman has a tricep injury and is doing no flying moves. BRODY -- Jose Gonzales' arraignment will take place on 8/8. There are rumors that Gonzales will be tried in Raleigh, NC (My note: What??) but Brody's family knows nothing about this. Both Texas Monthly and Rolling Stone are expected to do features on Brody. Irv Muchnick will write the Texas Monthly piece, and Scott Ostler will write the Rolling Stone piece. Ostler has been voted California's best sportswriter for several years. Ostler is interested in writing a book about Brody, and there is talk of doing a movie. (My note: ...) Because of the nature of the crime and why it happened, more information will come out about this that may expose the business. Dave expects the focus to be more on his life than his death, although his death can't be ignored. Dave says anyone who wants to send well wishes to the Goodish family can send them to him, and he'll pass them along. Brody wouldn't want flowers, and Brody worked with the Patrician Movement, a charity focused on helping teens overcome drug and alcohol addiction. OTHER -- Billy Jack Haynes' Oregon Wrestling Federation closed on 7/17. Haynes is claiming they will restart in September, but most people say that will not be the case. They will probably not make it even if they do since it flopped so badly the first time. Haynes will probably not end up back with Owen, but Mike Miller and Rip Oliver will probably try. Rip Oliver was fired by Don Owen a few weeks back, and Mike Miller insulted Don Owen in a local newspaper, which probably closes the door for him. -- Ron Fuller's USA Pro is leaving Knoxville. They have been drawing poorly since starting in February and will be closing up on 8/20, with Continental taking over their TV slots and running live events in Knoxville and Chattanooga. No word on what will happen to the wrestlers, but Dundee and the RPMs are expected to head to Memphis. Doug Furnas and Scott Armstrong will probably go to Continental, and Memphis is interested in Wendell Cooley. However, Cooley walked out on Continental when Eddie Gilbert was booking, so Gilbert probably doesn't want him. Terry Gordy only worked a few dates for them, and no word on what happens to The Bullet, Moondog Spot, Todd Morton, Mongolian Stomper, or Johnny & Davey Rich.

Remember the brief period when they paired Cena with Cryme Tyme to give Cena "credibility"?

TNA is shit. I'm not arguing with you there. But I would say even if they were great, they would still be doing the exact same business they are doing now. Are they to blame for TNA sucking? Yes, absolutely. Are they to blame for TNA not drawing? That's a different question. If TNA was good, I don't know that it would make much difference. I would have agreed with you at some point, but too much time has passed. It's been almost a decade since there were two established national promotions, and even longer since they were both doing big business at the same time. 1998 will never happen again, just like in 1998, we weren't going to see a return to what wrestling was in 1986. Now, arguing that WWE could have competition feels like arguing that the territories could come back. The ship has sailed.

Now what's left for them to shoot for? The argument TNA has always made, even before Hogan and Bischoff jumped on board, is that if they could only get on Monday nights, they would be competitive. The truth is, and they don't seem to grasp this, the days of wrestling promotions competing for fans are over. An entire new generation of fans that has never known any wrestling except WWE has since come in. They wouldn't look for wrestling on another channel or be dissatisfied, because this is the kind of wrestling they've grown up on, and it's all they know. As tempting as it is, you can't really blame Hogan, Bischoff, Flair, or anybody else for this not succeeding. It never had a chance of succeeding, even if they had done everything right. The biggest problem facing TNA is that fans don't know they exist. Hogan, Flair, RVD, Hardy, Hall, Nash, and Sting is theoretically enough of a big name roster that they should do okay. If those were the Smackdown headliners right now, I'm not sure it would do worse than who is actually headlining Smackdown. But that's the whole issue. People know about Smackdown. Most fans have never even heard of TNA, and they don't seem to have any promoter skilled enough - nor do they have the promotional machine behind them like WCW did - to change that. When most fans know about it and just choose not to watch, that's when you can start making issues of things like bad booking and old guys, but that's all useless if no one even knows you're around.

I think the timeline was that they had started announcing Cena/Christian for Vengeance, then Jericho went to Vince and said he wanted to leave when his contract was up, and asked if he could go out on top. So Vince decided to add Jericho to the match to start building toward a Jericho/Cena match at Summerslam. It was a bad move, yes, but I don't know that it was designed specifically with the purpose of burying Christian. Jericho has said he was added to that match because they were afraid Christian would get cheered over Cena.

IIRC, the Doom/Horsemen feud died off because Teddy Long talked Ron Simmons and Butch Reed into refusing to do the job. Is that accurate?

I don't know that Austin was different enough when he turned heel. He still looked the same, talked the same, and wrestled the same. He did more comedy as time went on with Vince and Angle and all the guitar stuff, but one reason the Hogan turn worked is because he completely reinvented himself. Austin didn't really do that when he turned.

Flair/Hogan is a feud I don't feel like was ever done right, mainly because Flair was always re-cast as a cartoon character when either WWF or WCW did the feud. Believe it or not, I actually think their '99 feud is the *closest* they ever got to getting it right, because they at least let Flair do some incredible promos to build up SuperBrawl. The problem there was that Hogan didn't really do any promos to build up the show, so it was kinda one-sided. But still, heyday Hulk Hogan versus heyday Ric Flair is the biggest dream match that never was. We all know the WWF story, and by the time the feud got to WCW in 1994, the wrestling boom was long over, and Hogan's astroturf fan support was way too obvious and obnoxious. They also put Flair with Sherri, and both guys were old by this point anyway. This happening in 1989, had Flair jumped with Arn, Tully, and eventually Windham and JJ, would have been huge, although the WWF needed to acknowledge the existence of both the NWA and Flair's past in order to make it work. Flair/Sting is another feud that for all the times they met, they never really got that proper well-hyped championship match on PPV given plenty of time without added nonsense like at Bash '90. It seems weird to say those two considering how many times both matches have happened, but those are the first two that come to mind for me.

I'm assuming the depth chart goes something like Hogan/Funk, then crazy brawler types like Brody, Hansen and Abby, then touring NWA world champs, then guys like Murdoch. Would that be fairly accurate?

BRUISER BRODY -- Dave says no explanation has been provided for his murder, and if anyone other than Jose Gonzales knows anything, they aren't talking. Wrestlers are starting to talk of boycotting Puerto Rico, either out of fear, or out of respect to Brody. "I'm not here to make any suggestions to anyone about how to run their business, but a few things need to be said. To the best of my knowledge, there is no evidence that there was any kind of conspiracy in this death. If you examine the situation, any conspiracy theory doesn't make the slightest bit of sense. I didn't want to get into this, but I'm pretty much forced to now. With the exception of the family and friends of Bruiser Brody, and I guess the family and friends of Jose Gonzales as well, nobody has suffered more from this recent tragedy than the Capital Sports promotion. They have been raked over the coals in the media. They have lost several wrestlers. They have had their image tainted terribly in their country. Fans have been turned off to wrestling in that area. And they have lost two of their biggest drawing cards. Now, please explain any conspiracy theories. If any evidence comes up to the contrary, then I think this group should become the wrestling equivalent of South Africa and be boycotted, but that doesn't seem to be the case. What the promotion is guilty of, if anything, is simply bad judgment in how it handled the night of the stabbing and the next night, particularly in allowing Gonzales to work. But it is pretty well established that there was no indication that Brody wasn't going to make it on Saturday night. Still, allowing Gonzales to work did raise a lot of questions. Let's face it they were under an incredible amount of stress, as many of us were, and plenty of us, myself included, were guilty of some bad judgment in the days after Brody's death. Running Carlos Colon out of business isn't going to bring Bruiser Brody back. Perhaps, if anything, this death should make the promotions realize that allowing things like knives and guns in a locker room is insane policy. This is not terribly unusual in a few U.S. promotions right now, and there is no reason for it, and this death should serve as a warning to promotions to ban dangerous weapons from their locker rooms I'm not telling anyone to go to Puerto Rico or not to go, but what I am saying is, if a guy does go there, let him make his own decision and don't pressure him not to by invoking the name of Bruiser Brody." WWF -- "First off, the line-up for the Summer Slam PPV show from 8/29 at Madison Square Garden is pretty much a dud." Dave says they are really counting on the main event to carry the show. Also, Demolition vs Hart Foundation and HTM vs Beefcake is being billed as the last time they will ever wrestle, which makes Dave smell a title change. There is also going to be a Brother Love show with a wrestler who has never appeared in MSG before. (My note: There were very strong rumors at this point in time that it would be Ric Flair jumping ship.) The WWF wants a 6.0 buyrate. Dave says it has been proven that a show with a strong main event and a weak undercard draws better than a show with bunch of good matches and no real clear main event, but that a national PPV show should be stronger top to bottom than this card. -- Curt Hennig started as a heel. -- Gene Okerlund is back. He and Vince apparently have huge blowups about twice a year. This year, Gene quit after the Slammys and came back the next day. His contract is too lucrative to stay away too long, but Vince wants to tone down his role to just doing PPV updates and NBC. No more on-the-road interviews, and no more hosting All American Wrestling. -- 7/25 in MSG drew 11,500 fans headlined by Andre/Duggan in a lumberjack match with tons of heat. 7/16 at Capital Centre drew 9,000 fans headlined by Savage/Beefcake vs DiBiase/HTM. -- 7/23 in Philly drew 9,115 fans and $116,035 headlined by Savage vs DiBiase. 7/23 in Nashville drew 10,000 headlined by Andre vs Duggan. -- Prime Time Wrestling was the number four show on cable for the previous quarter, with a 3.0 rating in 1,328,000 homes. All American is #9. -- No Holds Barred is scheduled for a May release. "Could it be that Hogan will win the title just before the movie's release?" -- 7/26 in Lubbock, TX drew 350 headlined by Tito Santana vs Ron Bass. 7/16 in Santa Paula, CA drew 648 fans headlined by Ken Patera vs Hercules. 7/17 in Hershey, PA drew 3,500 fans headlined by Savage/Beefcake vs HTM/DiBiase. 7/22 in New Haven, CT drew 6,000 headlined by Andre vs Duggan in a lumberjack match. 7/22 in Las Cruces, NM drew 1,002 headlined by Santana vs Bass. NWA -- Things are at their shakiest point ever in the NWA. There is a major cash flow problem and they had to take out one (or two, depending on the source) loans of over $300,000 to pay some overdue bills. Balloon payments on contracts were due in May, and have not yet been paid, and none of this money will be used for that. Sources say TBS floated the loan(s), because they were about to start losing television in markets. The money will be considered a down payment if/when a TBS sell takes place. They also borrowed money from a Charlotte bank, putting up an entire month's ad revenue as collateral. "Unless this promotion suddenly hits a home run in the bottom of the ninth, they are history unless a sale is made." Dave says there is no evidence a turnaround is coming. -- Dave says the originally reported Bash buyrate is an example of "McMath". Originally reported as 3.5-4.0, the buyrate was closer to 2.0. The show was not a money loser, but it is not enough profit to save the company, and not nearly as much as they were hoping for. Dave talks about why the buyrate was lower than expected, and says the top reason has to be that the talent is so stale, and that the matches didn't really capture the public's attention like Crockett thought they would. Dave thinks they have also cried wolf too many times with bogus finishes at house shows. But the bigger reason, Dave thinks, is that TV ratings have plummeted in the last quarter. The Saturday evening TBS show has dropped to #11 on cable, when it used to always be in the top three, and for the first time ever, they are behind the WWF's television ratings on the USA network. TV viewership dropped 23% in three months. (My note: !) "No matter how good a job the promotion does in selling the event on television, they are not going to convince those who aren't watching the show in the first place that the PPV is something they should see." Dave has heard arguments that low TV ratings are due to good weather and people not being home, but Dave says this argument doesn't hold water, because All American Wrestling on USA has been unaffected, and it airs Sunday at noon. Dave says TV ratings are the most reliable barometer of fan interest. Houses may not draw because of bad local economy or a variety of factors outside of a promoter's control. But even if you do great angles and live shows, it makes no difference if fans aren't watching TV. The Bash is doing well, as expected, but if TV ratings haven't gone up, it's just hot-shotting. Dave says later in the issue that Main Event is #18 on cable. Clash II was the fourth highest rated cable show of the quarter, trailing three NBA playoffs games on TBS. -- Dave says several key NWA players may leave before the sale is completed, which would make it far harder to start the ball rolling back in a positive direction. He expects several main event regulars to start leaving in the next few weeks. Every NWA wrestler is now a free agent because their contracts have been violated, so anyone can jump anytime they want. The WWF's plan is to wait for wrestlers to come to them, because they may be economically forced to jump, which gives the WWF the advantage in negotiations over the wrestlers. Many wrestlers are talking about working Japan regularly, but Dave says it's tough to get over at a level in Japan where you can just work tours and not need any other dates. "A few guys have done it and maybe a few more guys could do it, but not too many can, and it doesn't seem to be a viable alternative for more than two or three of the NWA guys." -- "A few things are necessary, but I don't expect them to take place. First, wrestlers have to be pushed by their marketability today not their marketability in 1986. An influx of three or four talented guys given a major push is needed badly. The television shows have to be completely reformatted. This business of 90 second squashes and trying to get every key guy to do one interview per show has been a failure. The idea of trying to sell a package deal to fans at live shows of "see the NWA" rather than pushing hard a few certain stars has not worked either. You need two or three guys who are pushed heads and shoulders above the rest, not 15 main eventers all of whom get the same general push. Ric Flair desperately needs a new role, as do the Road Warriors, and I'm not certain they are the right people to build around anymore." -- Robert Gibson quit this past week after getting paid $1,100 for a week's worth of Bashes. Gibson never wanted to come back in the first place, but Ricky Morton really wanted to return. Morton is still around, but is going to have to decide soon if he wants to stay in the NWA or keep the team together. -- 7/18 in Columbus, GA drew 4,200, the largest crowd in three years, for a 5 1/2 hour card which included a TV taping and a David Allan Coe concert. All the TV matches were squashes, but the highlight was the Midnight Express/Horsemen confrontation. The MX are going babyface and are starting to get cheered in several cities already. Dave says Jim Cornette is in a tough spot because babyface managers wear out their welcome awfully fast. Non-squash matches on the card were Sting vs Mike Rotunda in a ***1/2 match, Fantastics vs MX & Cornette in a **** bunkhouse match, Dusty/Nikita/Doc vs Flair/Windham/Tully in a double countout, and Road Warriors vs Ivan Koloff & Russian Assassin in a scaffold match. It took a half hour to put up the scaffold for what was an 8 minute match. -- 7/21 in Cincinnati drew 4,000 headlined by a ***** War Games match with Sting/Luger/LOD/Nikita vs Horsemen & JJ. -- 7/17 in Charleston, WV drew 6,500 headlined by Sting/Luger/Nikita/Doc vs Horsemen in a cage. Cornette missed the show due to problems with plane connections, so Stan Lane told the audience he was in Louisville getting an outstanding citizen plaque. -- 7/23 in Philly drew 7,520 and a $167,800 gate headlined by War Games. -- 7/22 in St. Louis drew 6,000 and an $81,000 gate headlined by Dustin/Nikita/Luger/Doc vs Horsemen in a cage. -- 7/28 in Daytona Beach drew 5,500 headlined by War Games and Luger/Windham in a Texas Death match. It was said the guys were starting to show fatigue from all the long matches at this show. -- 7/31 in Detroit drew 7,000 fans to see The Sheik. The main event was Dusty/Sheik vs Murdoch/Sullivan going four minutes and everyone bleeding at the very beginning of the match. Dusty pinned Sullivan for the win. After it was over, Sheik turned on Dusty by going after him with some type of object, but Murdoch turned babyface and saved Dusty. "So we've got the return of the Texas Outlaws in Dusty's never ending search of a gimmick that will get him over as the top babyface in somebody's eyes other than his own." This show charged $50 for ringside tickets that would allow you to meet the wrestlers. Only Brad Armstrong and Jimmy Garvin showed up, which left 150 very angry fans. -- There are cards scheduled for 9/30 in Winnipeg and 10/1 in Brandon, Manitoba. -- Learning The Ropes has been cleared in 22 of the top 25 markets and is scheduled for a 9/26 start. It will be shown on 77 stations, which is impressive for syndication. -- 7/30 at Capital Centre drew 8,500 headlined by a Horsemen/JJ/Sullivan vs Road Warriors/Ellering/Dusty/Sting/Luger Tower of Doom. 7/29 in Houston drew around 6,000 headlined by an 8-man cage match. MEMPHIS -- 7/25 in Memphis drew a $20,000 gate headlined by Lawler vs Kerry Von Erich in a **** 60-minute draw. -- They keep hinting at turning Brickhouse Brown, as Robert Fuller will make racist comments then apologize. There was a Stud Stable party on TV and Fuller gave Brown a watermelon. "They also had a cake and for the first time in the modern history of pro wrestling, a cake appeared on TV and never made it into anybody's face." -- 8/1 has Lawler defending the AWA title against Buddy Landell AWA -- Curt Hennig has been "suspended for life". He actually started with the WWF. -- Jimmy Valiant is headed in. -- They are claiming the Rock & Roll Express will be back. They are also planning for a show at the 55,000-seat Metrodome on 11/4 or 11/5 with ZZ Top doing a concert, which Dave says not to believe until you see. CONTINENTAL -- Willie B. Hurt had his 14-year old son come out for an interview. Paul E. Dangerously came out and started questioning his parenthood and the kid punched him. Eddie Gilbert then came out and attacked the kid to start a Gilbert/Hurt feud. (My note: I am stunned that this didn't cause more controversy. Is this on tape?) -- Bob Orton is coming in for a few dates. -- Bam Bam Bigelow is coming in for a few dates, and is expected to challenge Lawler for the AWA title in the main event of the Road to Birmingham show, which will also have a Ken Wayne vs Danny Davis hair vs hair match. -- The past week had a few sellout crowds and was the most successful week since Eddie Gilbert started booking. USA PRO -- Buddy Landell and Hector Guerrero are gone from this group. -- 7/17 was a TV taping in Knoxville. In the first hour, they announced Terry Gordy is reinstated. The RPMs came out with a cake to celebrate one year as tag champs, which Dave thought was hilarious since USA Pro started in February. The Rich cousins came out and you can guess the rest. There was also a $1,000 vs the mask match with Dundee vs The Bullet. Bullet had Dundee in the sleeper but Gumby hit Bullet with a bag of silver dollars. The ref noticed the silver dollars in the ring and awarded the match to Bullet. They announced that Dundee was fined $10,000. Later in the taping, Dundee was badmouthing Bullet in an interview. Bullet went after Dundee and Gumby, but Dundee got Bullet from behind and painted his back yellow. There was also a 45-minute draw between the RPMs and Rich cousins, and Lawler vs Wendell Cooley, with Lawler stalling and using foreign objects and playing total heel, yet still being cheered. CENTRAL STATES -- The final co-promoted with WCCW card was 7/16 in Kansas City. They actually charged $50 for ringside seats on a show where Lawler, Kamala, Embry, Jeff Jarrett, the Simpsons, Steve Cox, and Jeff Gaylord all no-showed. They advertised a Lawler-Kerry match they knew would never take place since Lawler was booked in Las Vegas that night all along. The top matches were Kerry Von Erich vs Mike George, and Michael Hayes vs Buddy Roberts in a DUD cage match. -- Vince Apollo vs Mike George will be the big feud when they restart, since DJ Peterson left for the WWF. Peterson was already going to leave for Stampede anyway, then the WWF showed interest. -- "Cactus Jack Foley, who is one of the top Northeastern independent workers, may show up in the Central States." OREGON -- Billy Jack Haynes' startup appears to have folded. THey drew 65 in Gresham on 7/8. -- A new team is headed in called The Beach Boys. SOUTHERN PRO -- 7/31 in Marietta drew 450 fans headlined by Tommy, Johnny & Davey Rich vs The RPMs & Bill Dundee in what was called a phenomenal match and Buck Robley & Larry Latham vs Bob Armstrong & Mr. Wrestling II. ALL JAPAN -- Stan Hansen is getting the megapush. He leads fans every night in a Brody chant, which has gotten him way over. -- The 8/29 Budokan Hall show is now being billed as the Brody Memorial. -- The next series is from 8/20 to 9/9 and has Abdullah, Tom Zenk, Jimmy Snuka, Jerry Oates, Johnny Ace, Rocky Iaukea, and a newcomer called The V. NEW JAPAN -- 7/29 at Ariake Coliseum in Tokyo drew 5,000 fans for an outdoor show where it rained all day, headlined by Inoki vs Vader, with Vader submitting to Inoki's armbar. Inoki will now face Fujinami on 8/8 in Yokohama. -- The next series is from 8/26 to 9/22 with Vader, Bob Orton, Karl Moffatt, Scott Hall, Ron Starr, Great Kokina, Luis Mariscal, and Black Tiger. -- 7/15 saw a series open with a sellout 2,050 at Korauken Hall. -- Inoki returned before a sellout 2,760 in Nagano on 7/16. The shocker of his return was that on 7/21, Choshu scored a clean pin over him. This was such a big deal that it took the entire front page of Nikkon Sports the next day. Dave says the match was really good with both guys looking much better than normal. Inoki was out to prove he isn't washed up and did a German suplex on Choshu. -- "From recent tapes, I'd rate Fujinami No. 2 in the world behind Owen Hart. The guy is just fantastic in carrying Vader and selling for him. He also makes Choshu look fantastic as well. The Hart-Koshinaka title change was a match of the year candidate as well." OTHER -- Pennsylvania Gov. Robert Casey vetoed a House bill to deregulate pro wrestling. His veto message: "While the bill does continue certain limited restrictions on wrestling promoters and contestants, the activity would become largely de-regulated. I note that this fact is contrary to the recommendations of the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee auditors in their review of the Athletic Commission under the Sunset Law of 1981. The audit report found that 'continued state regulation of professional wrestling appears necessary to protect the safety and welfare of both participants and members of the audience.' Information compiled by the Department of State indicates that approximately 30 other states currently regulate wrestling and several others plan to begin regulation in the future ... Finally, I must object to the reduction of the gross receipts tax on wrestling exhibitions in the absence of some additional source of revenue to support the other duties of the Athletic Commission which would remain after deregulation of professional wrestling. The Department of State has undertaken a long overdue program to reform the Commission's operations. This includes substantial improvements in the training of the Commission's regional personnel and various other steps to improve the safety of events held under the Commission's jurisdiction. House Bill 1729 would result in a revenue shortfall of approximately $80,000 this fiscal year, seriously inhibiting the Department and the Commission in their efforts at reform." -- The Saturday night TV wrestling block on WATL Ch. 36 in Atlanta has been dropped. Joe Pedicino is moving the block to Ch. 69 starting Labor Day Weekend and will have wrestling from 8pm to 3am every Saturday night. (My note: Interesting how weekend wrestling is now a thing of the past.) The block will include WCCW, Pro Wrestling This Week, CWA, Southern, CWF, "Learning The Ropes", USA, Carribean, and the new FLAIR women's wrestling group. Pedicino signed a one year contract and has 100% creative control of the wrestling block. -- "Paul Orndorff is still alive. No matter how many denials get printed in the wrestling magazines and bulletins, I still average at least a half-dozen letters weekly telling me that Orndorff died from any one of a half dozen different causes ranging from getting hit with a bowling ball to AIDS." -- Maeda's opponent for the 8/13 UWF show is Gerard Gordeau, a karate fighter from Holland. Japanese magazines are hinting that Maeda will wrestle Bob Backlund in December. The UWF is expected to sell out every single show for the remainder of the year. -- Larry Hamilton, brother of Jody Hamilton (The Assassin) is running for Buchanan County sheriff in Missouri as a Democrat. -- John Foley, better known as manager J.R. Foley, died of lung cancer on 7/24 in Calgary. -- Iceman Parsons was asked to tour South Africa and turned it down. -- Johnny Ace showed up for FCW. (My note: Ha!) -- 7/14 JWP match between Devil Masami and Shinobu Kandori went nearly 33 minutes and both bled. Dave said from the photos of the match, it looked great. LETTERS PAGE The Jobber I was at home with my wife watching TV, When the telephone rang and the call was for me. That very next night in Nashville, Tennessee They wanted me to do a job on national TV. I'd make $65, the going rate for chumps, It was clearly understood that I'd be taking all the bumps, So I told their stooge that I would be there, He said "thanks very much," but I knew he didn't care. Got all of my gear and packed my bag, That ride the next day would be such a drag, Left my house at four so I wouldn't be late, Then started hauling ass up the interstate. Stopped at a store to hear, "which one are you?" Those idiot marks just didn't have a clue, If I was Hogan or Savage, they wouldn't have to ask, But I'm only a jobber, with a lowly wrestling task. Arrived at the building and walked to the stage door, And got cussed out by a rat, such a pitiful whore, As I headed to the heels dressing room, My ego felt shattered, for a faced certain doom. Strut into the room and forced a fake smile, "How ya been doing brother, haven't seen you in a while," Found me a spot and started getting ready I was sweating like hell but my nerves held steady. Up walked the booker to give me the finish, As I felt my pride so painfully diminish, He wanted us to do the "old Pearl Harbor," The face would make the comeback, I'd end up the jobber. Then the bell rang, my match was up first, I was suddenly stricken with a bad case of thirst, "First match get out there," the bookers' voice did hiss I was busy taking my third nervous piss. So I stomped to the ring to the sound of jeers, Then out waltzed the baby to a round of rousing cheers, I'm a pretty tough dude who can kick some bass, Too bad I don't fit in with the front office brass. I'd take decs and D-Bol and some Winstrol V, If only the pencil would do something with me, My name was announced to the deafening boos, As I envied my opponent, cause he wasn't gonna lose. All went as planned, and well, "that was that," My shoulders got pinned in the middle of the mat, TV matches are short, and this was no exception, I stormed back to the room feeling total dejection. Took a hot shower and washed off the seat, I'd be back on the road, they'd be taking a jet, Said bye to the boys and then to the booker, I had turned my trick like a 300 pound hooker. Oh how I wanted that booker to clobber, But had to keep my cool, I was only a jobber, Don't get me wrong, no apology was needed, I made the babyface look good, so I totally succeeded. Drove back down the interstate guzzling a beer, Would I always be a jobber, what an agonizing fear? But deep down I know all that really matters, you see, Is that I play my role well, and am very proud of me.

I'm currently typing up the 8/8/88 WON for the Passion for the Business folder, but this quote cracked me up so much I couldn't wait. Consider this a sneak peek. "Paul Orndorff is still alive. No matter how many denials get printed in the wrestling magazines and bulletins, I still average at least a half-dozen letters weekly telling me that Orndorff died from any one of a half dozen different causes ranging from getting hit with a bowling ball to AIDS."

Murdoch would be more regarded than DiBiase though, correct? DiBiase teamed with Hansen for most of his run, and didn't really have very many memorable matches on his tours with Baba. Murdoch worked for both Baba and Inoki, did way more tours than DiBiase, and had singles and tag runs that spanned a much longer period of time. Maybe Dave is close on his point about Murdoch being the HOF cutoff guy, but maybe DiBiase would be better in that spot. I like the idea of DiBiase as the "almost, but not quite" entry, but I would put Murdoch above him.

THIS was great TV, although I could have done without Russo's stupid euphemisms for sex. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0geOLIXpIE

"DiBiase is in because he was generally a headliner everywhere he went from the late 70s until his retirement, and for most of that period was considered to be one of the five or ten best workers in the business. The others mentioned were all major players but I wouldn't consider any of them seriously as Hall of Fame candidates. Rude was a star and a good worker, but his run at the top was only a few years and he did a good job carrying Warrior but they didn't draw, and a great job with Sting but it was in that program that he suffered the injuries that led to ending his career. Valentine had some good runs but to me he's way short of Hall of Fame status. Hart in Memphis was the greatest manager I ever saw at carrying a territory, but he wasn't close to a Hall of Fame level performer once he went national. Pillman no way at all. He was a good worker, but never one of the very best, and he was never a headliner. Orndorff I'd consider more than the others due to the Hogan run but he still falls short. Anderson was a very good worker and a fantastic talker but was never a headliner on his own. To me, Hall of Fame should be reserved for legends of the sport. To me, the litmus question is always, was this person a bigger star world wide or a better worker than Dick Murdoch, who to me is the level of guys who don't make it by a hair? DiBiase was on the same level as a star and a more consistent worker (probably better as well, although some would debate that but nobody could debate that DiBiase was more consistent). Rude, Valentine, Pillman, Orndorff, and Anderson weren't close to Murdoch as a worldwide star, particularly when longevity and different areas are factored in, and of that group, none were better workers although Anderson and maybe Orndorff come close and Valentine in his prime may have come close." - WON, 04-20-1998

'99 under Nash.

JR is the king of crypticism, so my expectations are low, although if he told all, it would probably be the best wrestling book ever.

Jericho's career is obviously heavily tied to Benoit's, but the only Benoit matches that would feel wrong to leave off would be the ladder match and the quad tear tag. They could work around that - if anything, it gives them the chance to frame HHH and HBK as his greatest opponents.

It was on Off The Record. He said something to the effect of Jericho not quite being where he needed to be, but that he hoped Jericho would put it all together at some point.

That was in March and yeah, Bischoff went to France for an extended vacation and left Nash in charge. It seemed like as they were going down, more and more guys started to be around less. I can't think of a time after 1998 when Hogan, Savage, Hall, Nash, Sting, Luger, Flair, Goldberg, and Bret were all around at the same time. Hogan was way overexposed in 1998, but in 1999, even when he was world champ at the beginning of the year, he wasn't consistently on Nitro, at least not out in front of the crowd. Lots of top guys really started taking extended absences around this time for various reasons, some legitimate and some just avoiding being a scapegoat. Bischoff seemed to really check out around this time too. He seemed to content to let Nash run things into the ground.

Mike Tenay himself may have lit that fire. Didn't they not like each other?

It's really amazing how fast things went down in 1999. They were on the way down in January, but they were still pulling a few 5.0+ quarter hours, and they did a huge buyrate for Flair/Hogan at SuperBrawl in February. By April, crowds were noticeably down, and that summer was perhaps the worst summer of wrestling any major promotion has ever produced. Things continued to decline into fall, and we all know how 2000 turned out.

The production values were obviously better during the Nitro years, but the audio was SO much better in the Crockett years. I don't know if the fans were just that much louder, they were better at mic'ing them, or both. WCW didn't even mic Dave Penzer into the camera sometimes, so he often sounded like a really distant echo.

The Honky Tonk Man getting booed as a babyface when they debuted him is really the only time I can think of during that time of someone not getting the desired reaction.

The fanbase skews so much younger than it did in 2004 that I'm not sure it will have as huge an impact. Remember, Chris Jericho didn't get that type of reaction when it got out he was leaving after Summerslam 2005, although admittedly, part of that was him being smart and controlling the messaging.

Just for the sake of clarity, one was the Owen show and the other was the 9/11 show, but it's interesting how they treat every tragedy the exact same. Back to HHH/Steiner, that match going 20+ minutes was designed to show up Steiner. There was no way they couldn't know that wasn't the right way to debut him.